


Lost To The Scorch

by dorkiestduo



Series: The Maze Runner Re-write [2]
Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-26
Updated: 2016-03-15
Packaged: 2018-05-15 14:48:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 58,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5789467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dorkiestduo/pseuds/dorkiestduo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Panic arises as the Gladers are thrown back into WICKED's games. Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end, but it was only the beginning. Just as the Glader's thought they were safe, they're pulled into Phase Two of the trials.<br/>After barely surviving the horrors of the Maze, Newt, Minho, Audrey and Thao are hit with their biggest variable yet; The Scorch. Surviving the deadly heat, and the murderous monsters called Cranks is only the beginning of the group's hardships.<br/>They must survive turmoil in their relationships, tension through friendships, and loyalties reaching their breaking point. Discovering themselves, and pushing themselves to their physical limit is hard enough without the possibility of their deaths around every corner. The variables WICKED have planned out just never end.<br/>Two weeks. Two weeks to reach the Safe Haven.They either make it, or they die. All bets are off.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Janson

He opened the door slowly. It didn’t make a sound. The light from the hallway flooded into the room before him, illuminating the sleeping figures. He held his breath, standing in the door for several minutes, unmoving, waiting for any of the subjects to awaken. None of them stirred.

He crept forward, three of his men silently following. They approached the first bunk. Subject A3 on the bottom bunk. Subject A9 on the top. He selected Subject A9 on his device, holding it over her left collar bone. The light scanned across her skin, imprinting the words there forever.

He then repeated the process with Subject A3. This was too easy. He wanted to laugh at the foolishness of these children. Trusting people they don’t know. Hadn’t their mothers taught them anything? He moved through the first half of the group quickly, not a sound from the subjects.

Subject A8 was next. He positioned the device over her right collar bone, scanning it onto the skin quickly. This was too easy. He moved towards the next set of bunks, when he accidently bumped into the bunk A8, A5, and A4 were sharing. He held his breath, not daring to move. Nothing happened. He sighed quietly, and began moving again.

“What the shuck?” A8 was sitting straight up on her bed, staring at him like he had three heads. _Well fuck me._ One of his men was there in a few seconds, restraining the girl and trying to inject the sedative, but she was too strong. _What was she again?_ He spared a glance down at his screen, where it read The Pistol. _Well that complicates things._

Soon more of the subjects had woken up, each one instantly getting ready to fight. _This is not what I need. Paige is going to kill me._  

“Who are you?”

“What are you doing?”

“You shouldn’t be in here.”

“What’s that thing?” Four or five of the subjects shot up, and the men instantly pulled out their guns. It didn’t seem to phase any of them, but it kept the rest from hopping out of bed after them.

“Everybody just calm down.” He spoke in what he could only hope these kids would say is a calming tone, lowering his weapon. “We just had a last minute protocol the others forgot about.”

“And this protocol involves you needing guns?” _I hate these damned kids, always having to pick up on every little thing that happens._

“Yes, for our protection on the way out of the building.”

“Then why are they pointed straight at us?” Obviously, he wasn’t going to be able to talk his way out of this. So instead he gave the signal to his men to knock them all out with the stun guns.

“We’ll wipe ‘em all after we finish with the tattoos.” He said, watching as each subject tried to fight, only to get hit by the stunner and collapse to the ground. “They might be a little sore tomorrow, but it won’t affect the results.”

The men dragged the subjects back onto their respective bunks. He turned to A7, who was to be the next one to receive his label. A7 hopped off the bunk, and looked him right in the eye. The other men turned, their guns pointed, but he held up his hand to stop them. _Subject A7, The Leader._ If they knocked this one out, the whole lot of them would attack. No, it was better to intimidate him, make him look small and weak, even if they’d never remember this.

He walked towards A7, backing him into the wall across from the bunks. A7 held his chin high, his eyes flaring with anger. He grabbed A7’s shoulder and spun him around, pushing him face first against the wall.

“I’m not usually one to like it from behind.” A7 snarled, his cheek squished against the stone. He chuckled at the boy before kicking his legs out from underneath him, causing him to fall to his knees.

“Think you’re so brave. You little shit.” He grabbed A7’s hair and slammed his face against the wall again. He selected A7 on his device, and scanned it onto A7’s neck where his shirt met his skin. “You won’t last one day out there.” He slammed the kid’s face into the wall again, drawing a little blood. It wasn’t enough to notice, as the subject was ninety percent cuts and bruises already.

“Ya shuck-face. You’re a mother-” He slammed A7’s head into the wall once more, before dragging him back to his bunk.

 _If you thought the Maze was bad…_ The man grinned, before finally getting back to finishing the task he came in here to do. _You little brats have a whole new hell headed your way._


	2. Newt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's Chapter 2 guys, hope you like it!

Waking up hadn’t exactly gone to plan, and it was rather disappointing. Newt had planned to sleep in the small bottom bunk with Audrey until someone either forced them up, or he had to take a piss. He would have been happy to just lie there in bed all day, knowing Thao and Minho were just right above him and Audrey right beside him.    


But of course, the happiness the group had felt since they arrive at this shucking place didn’t last that long, because instead Newt woke up to the sounds of windows shattering and people shouting.    


The other Gladers who had woke up before him were running around the room, shouting. And terrible, awful, ear-drum shattering sounds filled the air, like the wretched squeals of animals being tortured. Audrey was still surprisingly asleep next to him, so he got out of the bed as carefully as he could.  _ She’s so exhausted that even these screams from hell aren’t waking her up, I sure as hell don’t want to accidentally wake her.   _ _   
_

The windows were all shattered, but thankfully they had bars over them that were keeping the sore covered people out of the room, leaving only enough space for their hands to reach in and try to grab at passing Gladers.    


“I’m a Crank!” One screamed, and the sight of her alone was enough to make Newt feel sick to his stomach. “I’m a Crank!” Her eyes were wide and bloodshot, filled with madness. And her hair, her hair was missing several huge patches all over her head, leaving what was left of her blonde hair to be stained with blood. But worst of all was the splotches or green looking moss, sores and scars covering her whole body.    


He stumbled backwards as she tried to reach for him, screaming again. He bumped into someone, and spun around to find Minho, face bruised and swollen. “Did your face look like that yesterday, shank” He asked. The cuts on his face looked newer than the rest.

“Look like what?” 

“Like, all shucked up!” Newt gestured wildly, trying to find the words to explain it. 

“Well, I did fight off a dozen grievers!” He argued. In seconds Thao and Thomas were beside them, as the chaos continued on. 

“What’s going on?” Thomas yelled over the other Gladers, staring wide-eyed at the Crank in the window. 

“What happened to your face?” Thao asked Minho, as she dragged him and Newt towards the door. 

“Wha-”

“Help me get this shuck thing open.” Thao groaned, pushing and pulling at the door.

“Kill me! Kill me! Kill me!” The crank was screeching, trying to grab the Gladers. Minho nodded at him, and Thao pair ran towards the door, shoulder chucking it open. 

“Thanks boys.” The three of them ran down the hallway that led them to the cafeteria. They didn’t have to go through the green door to know that at each window were more cranks. Everywhere they turned, the bloody cranks were staring right back at em. They ran back to the others, finding Audrey awake, and standing beside a panicked Thomas.   


“What’s going on?” Thomas asked, facing Newt.    


“You think I have a bloody clue? Bunch of crazies want to eat us for breakfast, by the looks of it. We need to get out of here, call a Gathering. All this noise is driving nails through my buggin’ skull.” He answered, pulling a still slightly dazed Audrey to his side.    


“What wrong with the door?” She asked.    


“Locked, and the bloody thing won’t budge.” He said, although he doubted she heard him over the screams from the people outside.    


“I wish those shuck… Cranks would shut up!” Minho yelled over the noise a few seconds later, voicing how Newt felt.    


“Cranks?” Audrey asked, before her question was answered by all of the people outside responding ‘I’m a Crank.’    


“We need to find a way out of here. Find me something to break through this bloody door!” Newt snapped, looking over the other gladers. Seconds later, one of the Gladers, Jackson was handing him a slender but solid fire extinguisher.    


Newt grabbed the red cylinder, ready to pile-drive the door handle. Audrey took a step back, falling into line with Thao, Minho and Thomas.  _ Don’t shuck this up.  _   


He lifted the fire extinguisher, then slammed it down on the round brass handle. The loud crack was accomplished by a deeper crunch, and it took only three more whacks before the entire unit of handle crashed to the floor. The door inched outward, cracked open just enough to show darkness on the other side. He stared at it for a long moment, waiting for something or someone to come running out of the dark, but nothing happened.     


“Let’s go.”    


“Wait, you want to go out there? You won’t be able to see a shucking thing!”  Frypan argued, looking shocked in the dim light.

“Well, that would have been nice if ya spoke up before we broke the door open.” Minho shot back, rolling his eyes. “C’mon, I’ll go first.” Newt watched him disappear into the darkness, Thao right on his heels. He glanced between Audrey and Thomas. He was next, that’s just how things ran around here. 

He took a deep breath and walked forward into the darkness. He half expected to be grabbed in the darkness, and he jumped in surprise when he heard Minho yell up ahead. “Watch out! There’s something weird hanging!” Newt could hear something swinging from the ceiling, and almost laughed to himself that Minho had smacked his head on something.

Just as he was about to give into the laughter, something sharp hit his knee, and his fell forward. He groaned loudly, falling onto something metal, and heard it scraping against the stone floor.  _ You just walked into a table slinthead.  _

“Table.” He announced, standing up again. “Watch out for tables.” He heard a few snickers, but continued walking towards the area he knew the lightswitch was. 

“Does anyone remember where the light switches were?” Audrey called out. He could tell she was walking close to the wall, judging by the sound of the voice, probably trying to feel for the switches. 

“That’s what I’m looking for.” He called back, hitting his knee on another table. He groaned again, a little quieter, but the sound of the metal against store was unmistakable. 

“Did you just hit another table, Newt?” Thao asked, clearly amused. “Ow, what the shuck is hanging from the ceiling?” 

Newt’s hand followed the wall. He knew he must be close, only about a foot away.

“Buh-huh-huh.” Minho groaned, sounding thoroughly disgusted. Newt could hear him running into things as he staggered around. Newt’s hand found the lights and he quickly switch them on.   


“Found it!” He shouted, just before the lights clicked on and the room suddenly blazed with fluorescent lights, temporarily blinding everyone. He groaned and shut his eyes for a few seconds, before blinking to adjust.    


“Whoa!” Minho yelled off to Newt’s left. A millisecond later Newt understood what it was about. Throughout the large room, people hung from the ceiling, at least a dozen of them. They’d all been strung up by the neck, ropes twisted and trenched into purple, bloated skin. The stiff bodies swung to and fro ever so slightly, pale pink tongues lolling out of their white-lipped mouths. All of them had their eyes open, glazed over with a certain death.    


“B-but… This must have happened just after we got into bed. It takes hours…” Audrey whispered from her spot next to the door, but the room had gone so quiet that everyone could hear her.    


“Wait, do we know these…” Thao started, looking up at one man. She didn’t have to finish her sentence for Newt to know what she was talking about. These were the people who had rescued the Gladers just yesterday.    


Thomas, Minho and Thao made their way towards Newt, but Audrey stayed in her spot right outside the dorm room. He looked back to the group in front of him a few seconds, noticing that Thomas had squeezed his eyes shut and was clenching his jaw.    


“Tommy.” He reached out to squeeze the boy’s shoulder. “What’s bloody wrong with you?” The boy opened his eyes and stood up straight, trying not to look as panicked.    


“What...what do you think? Look around us.”    


“Yeah, but you looked like you were in pain or something.” Thao pointed out, giving Minho and Newt a concerned glance.    


“I’m fine--just trying to reach her in my mind. But I can’t. We gotta find where they put her.” Thomas mumbled, before scanning the room looking for the room they’d taken Casey.    
“He’s right.” Minho said to everyone. “Spread out, find her!” 

“Might’ve already.” Thomas said before taking off towards a door across from their dorm. “Somebody grab that fire extinguisher.” Newt watched as Minho ordered Winston to go get it. The smell in the room was becoming increasingly worse with each second, they all needed to get out of here.

Newt ran to Thomas, who was staring at the small place card beside the door:

**Casey Agnes. Group A, Subject A1.**

**The Hurricane**

He looked at Thomas and shrugged. “She has a last name.” Thomas informed him, as if he couldn’t read. 

“Who cares?” Minho asked, hip checking Thomas away from the door. “It’s smells like Fry’s pits in here.” Winston handed the fire extinguisher to Newt. 

“Tommy, your turn.” He told him, handing the fire extinguished to Thomas. He rolled his eyes, but took it nonetheless. Thomas smacked the door handle three times, and the door swung open. 

Inside were two beds. The sheets on one were neat, and untouched. The other looked like someone had just gotten out of it. The room looked like what Newt imagined a hospital room to look like. Sort of like the Med-Jack tent, but more professional. There weren’t any tools, or medicine though. On the far wall was another door, identical to the bathroom door in their dorm.

“Casey?” Thomas called out, running towards the bathroom just as the sound of a toilet flushing reached their ears. 

“Dude. Don’t walk in on a girl while she’s taking a bloody pee.” Newt laughed, grabbing Thomas’s arm to stop him. 

“We need to have a shuckin’ Gathering.” Minho suggested, sitting on the neatly made bed while they waited for Casey to come out. “Let’s do it in here, it doesn’t smell like Newt’s feet.” 

The door opened, and Thomas started to walk towards the bathroom door again.    


But it wasn’t Casey who walked out as all the Gladers piled into the room. It was a boy. He wore the same kind of clothes the Gladers boys had been given the night before, clean pajamas with a button up shirt and flannel pants that were light blue. His skin was olive, and his hair was dark and cut surprisingly short.    


“Who are you?” Thomas asked harshly, and newt prepared to grab the boy in case he did something rash.    


“Who am I?” The boy responded a little sarcastically. “Who are you?”    


“Don’t bloody mess around. Just tell us who you are and no one gets hurt.” Newt said, gently pulling Thomas back.    


The boy folded his arms, a defiance come over his whole body.  _ Who the bloody hell does this kid think he is? _ “Fine. My names Aris. What else do you wanna know?”

“How’d you get here? Where’s the girl who slept here last night?” Thomas asked, sounding as annoyed about the boy’s attitude as Newt felt.    


“Girl? I’m the only one here, and it’s been that way since they brought me here last night to stitch up my side.” Aris said, pulling his shirt up a bit to show the Gladers his patched up wound.    


Thomas turned and pointed at the door. “There’s a sign right out there that says this is her room. Casey.. Agnes. No mention of a shank named Aris.” Newt watched as the boy raised his hands out in a conciliatory gesture. Obviously he knew just about as much as they did.    


“Look, man, I don’t know what you're talking about. They brought me here last night to look at my cut, patched me and I slept in that bed. I just woke up five minutes ago and took a pee. Never heard of a Casey Agnes in my life. Sorry.” 

“Alright, who put you in here?” Newt asked, trying to get more information from the kid without having Thomas break down about Casey on him.    


“I don’t even know, man. A bunch of people with guns who rescued us, told us everything would be okay now.”    


“Rescued you from what?” Thomas asked, sharing a knowing look with Minho and Newt.    


Aris looked down at the floor and his shoulders fell. “From the Maze, man. From the Maze. Where’d you guys come from?”

“The maze, shank.” Minho nodded, laying back on the bed, crumpling up the sheets. Thao sat on the edge of the bed. 

“You’re lying.” Aris whispered, looking shocked.

“Nah, we bloody aren’t. I think we’ve come from a similar place.” Newt told the boy as he leaned on the footboard of Minho’s newly claimed bed. “Tell me about your maze.”

“No.” Thomas argued, looking frantic. “We need to go find Casey.  _ Now.  _ We’ve got all day to talk to this shank!” He ran out the door. 

Newt rolled his eyes, knowing there was no other place to look. The rest of the Gladers sat down around the beds. Aris sat on his crumpled bed, and Newt sat down beside Thao. Audrey sat on the floor, between Newt’s legs. 

Thomas came back a few minutes later, looking disgusted. He shut the door behind him, and walked over to the group. “Still smells like your feet out there.” He muttered, sitting on Aris’s bed. 

“Worse. It’s like Gally’s feet, mixed with Fry’s pits, stuck up Newt’s-” Minho laughed, being aggressively cut off by a sudden fit of coughing. Thao smacked him upside the head after she coughed over the end of his sentence. 

“Alright, let’s get started on the bloody storytellin’ so we can get to the real problem--finding something to eat.” Newt said, cutting off everyone’s chattering and getting down to the matter at hand. 

“Good that. Aris, talk. Tell us everything.”    


“No way. You guys first.”    


“Yeah? How about we all just take turns beating the living klunk out of your shuck face? Then we’ll ask you to talk again.” Minho responded.    


“Minho..” Newt warned, shaking his head. “There’s no reason--”    


Minho pointed sharply at Aris. “Please, dude. For all we know this shank could be one of the Creators. Somebody from WICKED, here to spy on us. He could’ve killed those people out there--”    


“Minho, he’s just one person. I don’t think it's possibly for him to kill a dozen adults who all had guns.” Audrey mumbled quietly, not really enjoying grilling the poor boy.    


“He’s the only one we don’t know and the doors and windows are locked! I’m sick of him acting all snooty when we’re twenty to his one. He should talk first.” Minho continued over Audrey.    


Newt sighed and looked between Minho, Audrey and Aris. “Min’s got a point. Just tell us what you meant about coming from the buggin’ Maze. That’s where we escaped from, and we obviously haven’t met you.”    


Aris rubbed his eyes before meeting Newt’s gaze. “Fine, listen. I was thrown into this gigantic maze made out of huge stone walls--but before that my memory was erased. I couldn’t remember anything about my life before, I just knew my name. I lived there with a bunch of girls, and some other guys. We escaped a few days ago, the people who helped us kept us in a big gym for a few days, then moved me here last night. No one explained anything. What’s this stuff about you being in a maze, too?”    


“Newt.” Audrey gently tugged on his good leg, making his focus moe from Aris to her. “It’s like the lady on the bus was saying. We were picked, thousands of us all around the world. I think he came from another version of the maze.” 

“How long were you there for?” Thomas asked from beside the boy, his right ankle crossed under his left leg so he was facing Aris. 

“A week, maybe. It was really crazy. The grievers started to take people and-”

“Grievers?” Thao asked, sitting forward on the bed. “Were you the last one to come up? In a coma for a week? Everything goes nuts when you come up....”

“How did you know that?” Aris’s eyes were wide in shock.

“He’s buggin’ Casey.” Newt laughed, humorlessly. 

“Yeah, but with dude bits.” Minho added, pointing at his own crotch. 

“Yes. Thank ya Min.” Newt rolled his eyes. “It’s gotta be the same shuckin’ experiment.” 

“That’s so wrong.” Audrey murmured, shaking her head. 

“So you the trigger, then?” Thao asked Aris, who just nodded. “Can you do the mind talkin’ thing too? Cos Thomas can, and that’s weird.” 

Aris looked at Thomas, shocked. The two just continued to stare at each other, wide-eyed. 

“You guys look like ya shanks are in love or somethin’.” Newt laughed. Thomas looked scared, as if some deep realisation had sunk in. “What is it Tommy? He bullyin’ you up in that crazy head of yours?”    


“Freaks.” Minho murmured, shaking his head.   


“Who killed her? What happened?” Thomas asked, ignoring and confusing everyone else as he looked at Aris.    


“Who killed who? Stop your voodoo klunk while we’re around.” Minho grunted.    


“He had someone he could do this with, just like I did. I mean… do. But he said they killed her. I want to know who they are.”    


Aris’s head dropped; his eyes looked closed from where Newt sat. “I don’t really know who they are. It’s too confusing. I couldn’t tell the bad guys from the good guys. But I think somehow they made this girl Beth...stab...my friend. Her name was Rachel. She’s dead, man. She’s dead.” He covered his face with both hands.    


“I still don’t understand how you ended up with us.” Newt sighed, thinking everything over. “Where are all the people from your Maze? How many of them escaped with you? Did they bring you all here or just you?”    


“Newt. Calm down.” Audrey mumbled, making him stop long enough to realize he might have gone a little overboard with the questions just then.    


“Look,” Aris said, wiping a few tears from his cheeks and looking up. “I’m just as confused as everyone else. About thirty of us survived, they took us to a gym, fed us, cleaned us up. Then they brought me here to look at a cut I got when we were escaping. That’s it. Then you sticks showed up.”    


“Sticks?” Minho repeated.    


Aris shook his head. “Nevermind, I don’t even know what it means. Just a word they used when I got there.” Newt smiled at that. It felt nice to know they had their own made up language as well.

“Hey,” A girl with long red hair spoke up. Her name was Marie. “What’s on your neck?” She asked, stepping forward and pointing at Aris’s collar. A dark splotch led across his shoulder and around the back of his neck.

“Looks like a tat.” Minho commented, sitting up and leaning towards the boy.

“Here, let me see what it says.” Newt reached forward and pulled the boy’s shirt away from his skin. 

**Property of WICKED. Group B, Subject B1. The Partner.**

He read it out loud to the group. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Minho asked, leaning forward and in front of Thao.

“I-it wasn’t there last ni-”

“Hey. You’ve got one too, Shank.” Thao told Minho, pulling the back of his shirt down. 

**Property of WICKED. Group A, Subject A7. The Leader.**

Newt quickly looked down at Audrey, grabbing her collar and pulling it away. Across her neck were words nearly identical to the others. “You’re A4, The Sweetheart.” Newt told her, before blushing slightly. 

“Let me see what you are?” The other Gladers were scrambling around them, looking at everybody else’s tattoos. 

“A5,” She told him with a small smile. “The Gule.”

“Ha!” Minho laughed behind him. “Cause you’re tacky, shank.”

“I think it’s because he holds us together.” Audrey mumbled, and this time it was her turn to blush. Newt looked at the others. Frypan and Winston were trying to look at each other’s at the same time, and just kept spinning in circles. Thao was standing on the bed, now, holding an invisible gun, making shooting noises. Newt looked at Minho, raising his eyebrows. 

“Pistol.” He explained, shaking his head and smiling up at her as she jumped over top of him, feet on either side of his body. 

“What’s mine say?” Thomas asked his quietly. Newt looked at the back of Thomas’s neck, holding his breath. 

“A2. It just says ‘To Be Killed By Group B’.” Thomas sighed, rubbing at the tattoo.

“Fantastic.”

 

 

\--------

Also, here is our casting for the three girls!

 

Thao:

 

Audrey:

 

 

Casey:

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be the average length of a chapter from now on!


	3. Minho

Before anyone had a chance to properly process Thomas’s tattoo, a clanging bell began to ring out throughout the room. Hands were thrown on ears and heads bowed down to try and block it out.    


But then Minho realized what it was, and so did everyone else by the perplexed recognition on their faces. The sound of the alarm was the exact one he had heard countless times in the Maze, everything a new Greenie showed up. And it didn’t show any sign of stopping.    


The Gladers milled around the room. gawking at the walls and the roof to try and find the source of the noise. But there was nothing there, no speakers, no heating or air-cooling vents in the walls. Just a sound coming from everywhere at once. 

“It’s the bloody Newbie alarm!” Newt shouted next to Minho, otherwise he would have never heard.    


“I know!”    


“Why is it ringing?” Audrey asked. “There isn’t a new kid being thrown at us is there?”    


“God I hope not.” Minho grumbled, but he doubted anyone could hear it. Frypan was walking over to the door, hand just about to touch the broken handle when Thomas stopped him.    


“Wait!”    


“Why?” Frypan asked, his hand still hovering over the door.    


“I don’t know. It’s an alarm. Maybe something really bad is happening.” 

“Yeah” Frypan yelled, gesturing around the room. “And maybe we need to get out of here. It’s the place making the noise.” And with that he pushed the door open, except it didn’t budge. So he pushed again, harder this time. Eventually he was leaning up against it, his full weight on the door.    


Nothing, It was closed as if it were bricked shut.    


“You broke the shuck handle!” Frypan screamed, slapping the door with his hand.   


But then, the alarm stopped. And the room went silent, everyone looking around waiting for something to happen.    


“Don’t tell me Auds was right and we’re getting a bloody Newbie thrown into our laps.” Newt said, breaking the silence.    


“Where’s the Box in this shuck place?” Minho muttered sarcastically, before the door that Frypan had been frantically trying to open before creaked open by itself, showing the group the darkness out in the common room again.    


“Someone turned the lights off while we were in here.” Thao mumbled, as Frypan backed up from the door.    


“Guessin’ they want us to go out there now.”    


“Then why don’t you go first.” Frypan offered.  _ Shucking coward.   _   


“No problem. Maybe we’ll have a new little shank to pick on and kick in the butt when we got nothin’ else to do.” He walked over to the door, then paused to look at Thomas, his voice soft now. “We could use another Chuck” 

Thomas sighed, nodding his head towards the door, beckoning Minho out the door. Minho clapped a hand onto the kid’s shoulder, before walking into the darkness. “Save me if a shuckin’ zombie grabs my leg or something.”

“No promises.” Thomas laughed, right behind him. 

“Make sure you don’t walk into the bodies.” Thao reminded them, about five feet away. “Or tables, Newt.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He heard Newt near her, and assumed Audrey was with him too. 

“You guys should wait by the doors. Let us find the lights first.” Minho suggested, easily finding the wall. He slid his hand along, feeling Thomas’s breath on his neck. “You’re a little close, dude.”

“Sorry. I don’t want to walk into any dead people.” He provided. Minho’s hand found the light switch, and he stopped without warning. Thomas crashed into the back of him, groaning, “Thanks for the heads up.”

Minho switched on the lights and took in the sterile room. “What the-” The bodies were gone. There was no sign that any of them had even been there. The room looked the exact same has it had the night before.

“This is impossible.” Newt said, moving past Thomas to get to Minho. Another thing that was missing along with the bodies was the smell. ‘Not enough time passed for someone to get them out. And no one else even came into this buggin room. We would’ve heard them.” He turned in a slow circle, looking up at the ceilings. A hushed awe spread across the group as each Glader finally made it into the room.    


“You’re right.” Minho agreed “We were in there with the door closed for, what, twenty minutes? No way anyone could’ve moved all those bodies that quickly. Plus this place is locked from the inside. And what about the smell? It’s like they were never here to begin with.” 

“Well you shanks are right smart.” Frypan said through a huff from his spot beside Audrey, gesturing around the room. “But take a look around. They’re gone. So whatever you think, somehow they got rid of them.”    


“And those crazy people stopped yelling. Listen!” Winston pointed out, making the group all turn their attention towards their dorm room. He was right, no more ‘I’m a Crank! Kill me!’ coming from the room.    


“I thought we just couldn’t hear it in Aris’s room. But you’re right, they stopped.” Thomas said, and just then everyone took off towards the larger room to see for themselves if the Cranks were gone.    


“No way!” Minho yelled the second he was through the doorframe, walking up to one of the previous windows the Cranks were at. Each window had a red brick wall placed in front of it, just outside the metal bars. It was completely blocking every inch of outer space, and the only light coming in the room was from the panels in the ceiling.    


“Even if they were quick with those bodies,” Newt said from behind Minho again “I’m pretty sure they didn’t have time to bloody throw up some brick walls. What’s going on here?”    
Minho walked over to one of the windows and reached through the bars, pressing his hand against the red bricks.  _ Real.  _   


“Solid.” He said as he slapped it, to prove it to everyone else.     


“It doesn’t even look fresh.” Thao mumbled from directly behind him, looking over his shoulder at the wall. “The mortar’s dry. Somehow they’ve tricked us, that’s all.”    


“Tricked us?” Frypan asked. “How?”    


“I dunno.”    


“Remember the Cliff? We jumped into thin hair and went through an invisible hole. Who knows what these people can do.” Thomas shrugged. 

The Gladers, and Aris, started to search around for anymore changes. The dressers had moved. They were stocked with clean clothes, and digital watches. Minho was so excited about the watch. It was incredible the things you longed for when you were stripped of- everything. 

He was standing by the room they had found Aris in. Thao was standing in front of him, standing in between his feet. The confusion from the last few hours had made them all a bit light headed and giddy. Everyone was in a bit of a silly mood, now that the building seemed to be back to normal.

The pair were bantering about something. He didn’t really care what they were saying, but she was laughing, occasionally letting her head fall against his chest. His heart swelled. While all the other gladers were searching for their “glade clothes” and Aris was probably panicking, they were having a moment, just as innocent and fun as it had been in the maze. 

She said something to him. It was taunting,  _ daring _ even. He smirked, grabbing her around the waist. He spun them around, pushing her back against the wall. She smirked at him, and he bowed his head, moving closer to her face. He blinked and looked away for a moment, suddenly very aware of how public they were. He glanced at the wall, daring himself to continue. Then he saw it.

“What the shuck?” He pulled away and walked over to the place card that had held Casey’s information. It now read:

**Aris Jones. Group B, Subject B1. The Partner.**

“WICKED is really trying to mess with us.” Thao murmured against his shoulder. 

“We should tell Thomas.” He whispered, her hands running down his sides. “Unless you want Thomas to find us like this.”

“Maybe I do.” She whispered, mouthing over the back of his shirt. “But you’re right. We should go get him.” She pulled back and began walking towards the dorm.   


Telling Thomas turned out to be a shuck idea, since after he got a look at it, the dude kept staring at it, an unreadable expression on his face. This lasted for about ten minutes, before he walked back into the dorm without mumbling a single word to anyone.    


“Apparently we shouldn’t have told him.” Minho mumbled to Thao as they made their way over to Newt and Audrey, finally having some time to just sit down and process everything alone. Or more alone than twenty gladers and some new guy all crammed in a small room.    


“Hey.” Audrey smiled as the pair approached, although this smile wasn’t as bright as the ones the night before had. When they actually thought they would be safe. 

“What was that about?” Newt asked, pointing to the dorm Thomas had just stormed off into.    


“Name tag on the door changed. Apparently it's upsetting.”    


“Maybe he just misses Casey. He did say he hasn’t been able to talk to her.” Audrey shrugged, and it was obvious she felt bad for him. _These stupid tattoo’s are pretty damn confusing, but they nailed her’s._   


“Probably.” Newt nodded in agreement, before shaking his head. “I guess there isn’t anything else we can do but wait til they decide to do something… Back to waiting.”    


“I hate waiting.” Thao groaned, taking a seat on the opposite side of the table from Newt and Audrey. “I’m also starving.”    


“Yeah, you think they would bloody feed us if they were going to keep us locked up in this shuck hole like dogs in a cage.” Newt complained, his stomach growling at the mention of food.    


“I would kill for another piece of that pizza they had last night.” Minho agreed, falling into the seat next to Thao.    


“Well, I don’t think they went through all the work of tricking us into thinking we were rescued and then showing us we aren’t in one of the most terrifying ways possible just to let us die of starvation in this stupid room.” Audrey sighed. “Plus, the average human can survive up to three weeks without food. But it can only last three days without water, which thankfully we have in the bathroom’s.”    


“Thanks for the info, doc.” Minho replied sarcastically.    


“Anytime, just as long as it’s nothing about a griever sting to your you know what.” Audrey shot back, referencing back to a joke he’s said on one of her earlier days in the Glade when she told Minho and Thao she was becoming a Med-Jack.    


Minho smiled at her. “Y’know, I miss the Glade. before everything went down. When the four of us could start a huge bonfire, and dance the night away. I miss the maze. Runnin’ it I mean. It was so repetitive and boring and useless but shuck do I miss it. My legs are aching to go for a run.” 

“I feel ya.” Thao nodded, slumping on the table. The stretched her hands out, grabbing Newts fingers. “You’re cold.”

“It’s bloody cold in here. It’s like they turned the buggin’ A/C on full blast.” Newt complained, squeezing Thao’s hands. “Know what I don’t miss?” 

“What’s that shuck-face?”

“Your bloody kisses everyday!” Newt laughed, a kind of joy reaching his eyes that was rare to see on the boy’s face. Minho laughed, leaning towards Newt, making kissy noises. “One time, before ya got to the Glade, Auds, Min actually kissed me!”

“It was an accident!” Minho protested, laughing at the memory.

“It was a buggin’ dare! Don’t you remember? Stephen dared ya to do it!” Newt reminded him, laughing just as hard

“Oh yeah!” The group laughed for a while, reminiscing in their memories. Minho felt like klunk, despite the laughter. He was starving, scared, and completely exhausted. 

“I’m gonna go check on Tommy.” Newt announced, getting to his feet and walking to the dorm. The trio watched him hobble off, staying silent for a few minutes.

“His leg’s bugging him.” Audrey whispered, observing the boy as he limped into the room. Minho stared at her.  _ Well, duh. _

“It always bugs him. He just hasn’t moved it much lately. You had him on bed rest for a good three weeks.” Minho shrugged, drawing pictures on the table with his pointer finger.

“Yeah, it’s not like he didn’t get any exercise in those beds though.” Thao smirked, winking at Audrey.

“Oh my god! We didn’t shuck in those beds!” She stammered, face beet red. 

“Where did you shuck then?”

“Deadheads?”

“Map-room?”

“Map-room basement?”

“The Box?”

“Oh my god will you slintheads shut up!” Audrey buried her head in her hands, letting out a long sigh. “You two are gonna kill me before I have the chance to starve to death.”


	4. Audrey

Another couple of days passed by, and eventually everyone was complaining about one thing. Food. Although Audrey knew that people could survive up to three weeks without any food, it didn’t mean she wanted to.    


“This is worse than the first time I can remember getting my period.” She whispered to Thao, who was sitting beside her on the bottom bunk. “It’s like my stomach is flipping around inside me, trying to eat itself.”    


“No shuck.” Thao agreed, glancing over at a sleeping Thomas. “Why is it that I can’t fall asleep like that?”    


“Because sleep without the Griever’s screaming in the background doesn’t feel like sleep anymore.” Newt said, coming back from the bathroom with Minho right behind him. The boy’s were carrying two makeshift glasses made of the leftover shampoo and conditioner bottles in the showers.    


“Yeah, it’s much more peaceful and quiet now. Who would enjoy that?” Minho said sarcastically, taking a long sip from the container before passing it to Thao.    


“Apparently just Thomas. I think he’s really torn up about Casey being… gone. All he seems to do now is sleep, drink and repeat. Last night I heard him crying, but I couldn’t tell if he was awake or not, and someone wouldn’t let me go check on him.” Audrey shook her head, waiting for Newt to take a drink before passing their bottle to her.    


“There were reasons to that. First, I was comfortable and nearly content with everything and if you moved, you would have ruined it. And second, the last thing Thomas would want is you going to check on him because you heard him crying. It’s a little embarrassing.”    


Audrey rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Boys.” 

“Know what I want almost as much as food?” Minho asked, climbing onto the top bunk. Thao stood up, before hopping up beside him.

“What?” Newt asked, leaning against the bed frame.  _ Why is it, whenever he leans on something, his shirt rides up? _

“Some of Gally’s juice.” Minho fell back on the bed, nearly hitting his head on the wall behind him. 

“Agreed.” Audrey said, to everyone’s surprise. “I mean, I really, really want food. But god, do I want to get drunk.” She shook her head, managing a small laugh. Newt sat down beside her, breathing heavy. 

“I’m so tired and weak. It feels like i’ve been runnin’ in the buggin’ maze for three hours. Audrey looked around the room, taking in the depressing state. The Gladers lay on their beds, not even bothering to move. Some pressed on their stomachs, as if that would do anything to help.

“We need to do something.” She whispered to Newt. He lay down on the bed, pulling her with him. His lips pressed against hers. They were chapped, and dry. The kiss didn’t last more than thirty seconds, as the physical exertion was too much.

“Audrey, you’re beautiful.”   


She smiled and shook her head, “Newt..” She started before someone came through the door faster than she’d seen in two days, stumbling to stay on his feet. “Something’s happening.” She slowly moved to get up, dragging Newt with her as she stared at the boy who had run in. In his hand there was a small package and a shiny green apple.    


“Where’d you get that Shank?” Newt asked once he had followed Audrey’s gaze and seen the food.    


“It’s like the thing with the bodies. One minute there’s nothing, the next… bam.” The kid explained, stuffing the apple into his mouth. “C’mon there’s a shuck ton!”    


“Wait!” Audrey called after him as he left, but he didn’t stop. And the other Gladers all moved at record speed to get out to the common room. “Don’t eat too much too fast.” She mumbled, knowing that at least Newt, Minho and Thao heard her. 

The four made their way out to the common area together, exiting the dorm room to see fruit, vegetables and small packages dumped all around the room without any kind of order. But the boy from earlier, Jack, had left something out in his storytelling.    


A large wooden desk had been placed on the opposite door to the other dorm room. And behind the desk was a thin man in a white suit sat in a chair, his feet propped up and crossed at the ankles, reading a book.    


“What... “ Newt started, taking small steps towards the man.    


“Wait, there’s this wall. I slammed into it earlier when I tried to get him to talk.” Jack called, still stuffing the green apple in his face. Audrey carefully reached out and grabbed a red one, taking a small bite from it.    


“Who is this shucker?”    


“We have precisely fifty minutes remaining until I have been authorized to implement Phase Two of the Trails. You’ve been allowed this time to eat and replenish yourselves, and I strongly suggest that you take advantage of it. Now, if you all don’t mind.” The man said, before returning back to his book without another word.    


“He’s been saying that for ten minutes.”    


“You waited ten shucking minutes to come and get us?” Minho asked Jack, giving the boy a glare.    


“What’s he mean Phase Two?” Audrey whispered, bringing Minho’s attention away from the boy. “What’s Phase Two? We all just barely survived escaping the Maze.” 

“I’m getting Thomas.” Minho muttered, grabbing a shiny red apple from the pile. He tossed it in the air, caught it again, and disappeared into the dorm. Less than a minute later, Thomas was out of the door, ravishing the piles with his eyes.

He took a giant bite of his apple, moaning. Minho followed him out, laughing light-heartedly. “This is so shucking good.” Thomas moaned.

“You sound stupid talkin’ like that Tommy.” Newt laughed, clapping the boy on the shoulder. Thomas looked up with a smile, but it soon fell when he saw the man sitting at the desk.

“Who’s he?” Thomas asked through a mouthful, approaching the man. 

“Won’t tell us for another fifty minutes. Has to be the right time or something.” Newt explained with a shrug. Thomas continued to walk forward. Audrey remembered a second too late that there was a glass wall, and Thomas walked right into it. 

Minho started laughing so hard, Audrey thought he might hyperventilate, or pee his pants. He held his stomach, gasping for breath, tears streaming down his face. The laughter was contagious, and soon every Glader in the vicinity was laughing their asses off, even Thomas. 

Thomas was, of course, the first to stop laughing, and the first to further investigate. His level of curiosity was actually impressive. The boy felt along the barrier, trying to get around it. When he didn’t find success, he slammed his fist onto the glass. The man looked over the top of the book, surveying Thomas. He rolled his eyes and returned to his book. 

Half an hour later, all the Gladers were sitting in front of the barrier, munching on snacks.    


“I think we’ve gone psycho like those...what’d they call themselves again? Cranks. The Cranks at the windows. We’re all sitting here waiting for a lecture from Rat Man over there like this is totally normal. Like we’re some kind of school. I can tell you this much--if he had anything good to say, he wouldn’t need a freaking magic wall to protect himself from us, now, would he?” Minho shook his head, growing impatient with how long it seemed to be taking.    


“Just slim it and listen.” Newt said, taking another small bite from the red apple he had. “Maybe it’s all gonna be over.”    


“Phase Two of the Trails doesn’t sound like anything is going to be over to me.” Thao agreed with Minho, and Audrey found it hard not to agree herself. For all they knew, what's coming could be worse than the Maze, if that was even possible. 

Audrey turned away from the bickering of her friends and faced the Rat Man, as Minho had taken to calling him. A few seconds after she turned her attention to him, he pulled his feet to the ground and placed the book on the desk.    


“Shut your bloody holes.” Newt whispered when Audrey gently tugged on his arm to show him. “It’s time.”    


The Rat Man scooted his chair back to get out and rummaged through the drawers, pulling out a densely packed manila folder full of messy papers, many of them bent and sticking out at odd angles.    


“Ah, here it is,” Rat Man said in a nasally voice, placing the folder on the desk and opening it up. He looked at the group in front of him and continued “Thank you for gathering in an orderly manner so I can tell you what I’ve been...instructed to tell you. Please listen carefully.”    


“Why do you need that shuck wall!” Minho shouted, and for a second Audrey was scared his outburst would have consequences.   


“Shut it!” Newt punched Minho in the arm, shaking his head.    


“You’re all still here because of an uncanny will to survive despite the odds, among… other reasons. About sixty people were sent to live in the Glade. Well, your Glade anyway. Another sixty in Group B, but for now we’ll forget them.”    


Audrey saw the man’s eyes flicker to Aris, lingering for a moment before going back to scanning the crowd.    


“Out of all those people, only a fraction survived to be here today. I’m assuming you’ve figured this out by now, but many of the things that happen to you are solely for the purpose of judging and analyzing your responses. And yet it’s not really an experiment as much as it is...constructing a blueprint. Stimulating the killzone and collecting the resultant patterns. Putting them all together to achieve the greatest breakthrough in the history of science and medicine.”  

The others had hard, unreadable expressions on their faces. Audrey was more confused, and angry, than she’d ever been in her life. He continued on.

“Everything that has been thrown at you has been carefully planned out. They’re called Variables. Things such as who was stung in the maze, when people died, or tired to.” His eyes lingered on Newt for a moment. “I cannot tell you everything right now, although I would love to. These trails are important. They are for an important cause. If you continue to respond well to the Variables, and continue to survive, then you will be helping to save the entire human race.”

“Bull.” Newt whispered under his breath, so that only Audrey, and maybe Minho, could hear. 

“He’s shucked in the head.” Minho whispered back, rolling his eyes.

“I represent WICKED,” It was Audrey’s turn to roll her eyes.  _ Surprise, surprise _ . “We exist for the sole purpose of saving the world from catastrophe.”

“Well ya sure shucked up, didn’t ya?” Thao asked loudly, leaning back on her hands. The man started at her for a long moment, but didn’t say a thing. 

“I’m going to give you a piece of advice. The world’s technology was, and is still, advancing. Do not believe your eyes. Not everything you see is real. And sometimes things you do  _ not _ see are, in fact, very real.”

The guy was making no sense, but Audrey was clinging to his every word, trying to make sense of it all. “We can manipulate your brains. Control your thoughts, and emotions.”

“Well that makes me feel a whole lot better.” Minho whispered.

“Yeah, I’m so glad I’m not buggin’ suicidal for real. It’s all an illusion.” Newt waved his fingers through the air, like he was doing some sort of magic trick.  _ I’m not.  _ Not _ I wasn’t. Current. I’m suicidal. Shuck. _

“The maze was the first phase in the trials. Not one variable was thrown at you that did not serve a purpose. Your escape was part of the trials. Your battle against the Grievers. Chuck’s murder. The pretend rescue. All of it.”

Audrey was seeing red. They killed Chuck on purpose. They made all those Gladers die on purpose. They made Newt jump off a shuckin’ wall on purpose. All for these dumb trials. 

Thomas shot to his feet, but Newt pulled him back down, giving him a warning look. The man shot up from his chair, leaning over the desk. 

“That was all for the Trials, do you understand? Phase One of the Trials. We are about to enter Phase Two of the Trials, and things are going to get difficult.” 

_ Going to get difficult? As if the Maze was just a walk in the park? _ The whole room was quiet as they processed what Rat Man said, and waiting for him to say more.  _ If they can control our thoughts and emotions, how are we ever supposed to know what’s real and what's not?  _ Then, the worst thought to pop up yet crossed her mind. _ What if their using their mind control on Newt and I to be together? Or to keep Min and Thao apart?  _   


But the thoughts vanished as soon as Rat Man started talking again. “You may think, or it may seem, that we’re merely testing your ability to survive. On the surface, the Maze Trail could mistakenly classified that way. But I assure you---this was not merely about survival and the will to live. That’s only part of this experiment. The bigger picture is something you won’t understand until the very end.”    


_ What does that mean?  _

“Sun flares have ravaged many parts of earth. Also, a disease unlike any before known to man has been ravaging the earth’s people- A disease called the Flare. For the first time, the governments of all nations- the surviving ones- are working together. They’ve combined forces to create WICKED- a group meant to fight the new problems of this world. You are a big part of that fight. And you’ll have every incentive to work with us, because, sad to say, each one of you had already caught the virus.”    


_ What? _ Audrey stared at the man in front of her with confusion, and reached out for Newt’s hand, only to have him already pulling her to his side. Rat Man quickly held his hands to cut off the ramblings that had started, and Audrey wrapped her arms around Newt as he continued.    


“Now, now! No need to worry-- the Flare takes a while to set in and show symptoms. But at the end of these Trails, the cure will be your reward, and you’ll never see the….debilitating effects. Not many can afford the cure, you know.”    


The woman on the rescue bus had told them all about what the Flare does, and Audrey tried hard to push the thoughts out but failed.  _ The Flare destroys your brain, _ she had said,  _ slowly driving you insane and stripping you of the capacity to feel basic human emotions like compassion or empathy. It turns you into less than an animal.  _ _   
_

She felt sick to her stomach, and was more than a little pissed that they were essentially being blackmailed to be WICKED’s puppets unless they wanted to become a Crank.    


“But enough of this history lesson and time-wasting.” Rat Man continued “We know you now. All of you. It doesn’t matter what I say or what’s behind the mission of WICKED. You’ll all do whatever it takes. Of this we have no doubt. And by doing what we ask, you’ll save yourselves by getting the very cure so many people desperately want.” 

Minho groaned, but Thomas quickly shushed him, obviously worried about the repercussions of his potential remark. Rat-Man cleared his throat again, looking at each kid who sat before him.

“Phase Two of the Trials, The Scorch Trials, begins tomorrow morning at six o’clock. You will enter this room, and the wall behind me will be a Flat Trans. You must each step through the Flat Trans by five minutes after the hour. Do you understand?”

The all nodded, a few yeses or yeahs were muttered. “Good. Here are the rules. FInd your way to open air. Head North. Make it to the safe haven within two weeks’ time. You will then be cured of the Flare, but only if you make it. Exactly two weeks. If you don’t make it, you will end up dead.”

No one moved. They were tired of fighting. “It’s simple. No rules, no guidelines, few supplies, and nothing to help you along the way. One hundred miles, directly North. Make it, or die.”   
The room exploded into a fury of questions at his last remark. Thomas was the only one who didn’t start yelling at the man. He sat quietly on the floor, waiting for the commotion to stop. 

“Shut up!” Minho yelled. The group quieted, staring at him in shock.

“Don’t waste your bloody time.” Newt told them.  

“One last thing. If you decide not to enter the Trans in that time frame, you will be executed on the spot. Good luck.” Rat-Man turned and began walking away. The invisible barrier between them fogged up, so that they couldn’t see a thing. It finally cleared, though everything behind it was gone. No Rat Man, no chair, no desk. Just gone.

“Well, he’s just peachy.” Thao grunted, letting out a long sigh.


	5. Thao

After Rat Man disappeared out of thin air, all the Gladers broke out in arguments and questions. Thao had seen Thomas beeline it to the bathroom almost instantly, and had thought about following him when the door to the bathroom slammed shut, and you could still hear it over all the noise. Newt and Minho didn’t try to stop it this time, letting everyone get the anger, confusion and horror they had off their chests.    


Instead, they just stood there. The four of them stood there and didn’t say a word. Thao wasn’t sure if it was because they didn’t want to voice their concern, or just because they didn’t think it would be heard.    


Everything that man had said was too much to take in. The hanging bodies, the brick walls, Rat Man himself appearing and then disappearing into thin air. How were they suppose to process that?    


And that wasn’t even the worst bit. The mind-control, the Flare, completing their Trail to get the cure…. Thao took a deep breath and tried to push all of the thoughts out of her head, wishing she could cling to Minho the way Audrey was to Newt without anyone asking any more questions that would just end up making her more confused.    


Finally, Minho broke the silence. “Well, shuck me.” _Words of wisdom, Min, congrats._   


“I think I’m going to be sick.” Audrey muttered after him, losing her grip on Newt and backing away. “I hope Thomas doesn’t mind some company.” She darted to the bathroom, slamming the door as well. Thao stared at Minho and Newt, not saying a word. Newt shook his head, and after a few moments, walked over to the washroom. He banged on the door with his fist, waiting for an answer.

“Whadaya think is out there?” Minho asked, gesturing at the window, which was now nothing but a brick wall.

“Certain death.” She supplied, motioning with her head for him to follow her to the room they found Aris in. He looked at her, teary eyed with frustration. They walked in silence to the room. Everyone- except maybe Newt- was too caught up in their own panic to notice the pair slip through the door. She led him to the adjoining bathroom and shut the door.

Thao looked into the mirror. Her face was nearly healed from the cuts and bruises. Her skin was pale from the lack of food, and she almost didn’t recognize herself without the usual glint of mischief in her eyes. She ran a hand through her knotted brown hair, before hopping up on the counter.

“The Leader.” Minho whispered, leaning over the sink, not daring to look in the mirror. “Why me? Why not Tomboy?” He leaned further forward, resting his forehead against the glass.

“Because you were born to be a Leader, Min. Thomas isn’t like you. He’s depressed, and irrational. Especially now that Casey’s gone. We need someone level headed.”

“A week ago, you were saying the same klunk about me.” He closed his eyes, gripping the edge of the sink.

“Well, you’re the best we got, so pull it together.”

“I’m shuckin’ scared. I gotta walk through that thing first tomorrow.” He whispered, looking at himself in the mirror, without lifting his forehead off the glass. 

“And I gotta go second.” 

“Why’s that?”

“Can’t have you getting lost right off the bat.” She laughed, swinging her feet out. “Seriously Min, I can go first if you want. I’ll even hold your hand if you’re so  _ scared. _ ” She taunted, giving him the biggest smile she could muster at a time like that.

“People are gonna die.” He slammed his fist against the glass, creating a huge spider-webbed crack. He instantly broke out into sob, his whole body shaking with them. Thao pulled him away from the glass and towards her, so he stood between her legs. He looked up at her through wet eyelashes, looking like a vulnerable little kid.

“Listen to me. Hey, look at me.” She grabbed his face between her hands, keeping him from looking away. “I couldn’t imagine any other of these slintheads being our buggin’ leader. You got that? You’re the only one who can do this Min, we need you. They need you. Thomas bloody needs you. Audrey and Newt need you. I. Shucking.  _ Need. _ You.” 

He nodded and pulled her into a tight embrace, crying into her shoulder. And she let him, running her fingers through his hair and just being there for him as he did.    


Five minutes later, when he had calmed down a bit, she pulled his face from her shoulder and making him look at her.    


“You can do this Min. Really.” She mumbled before gently pulling him towards her, and pressing her lips to his slowly. They stayed wrapped up in their own little world like that for the next two or three minutes, temporarily forgetting about the mayhem that was going on outside the bathroom doors and just focusing on each other.    


After that, they spent the next fifteen minutes cleaning up the mirror and Minho’s hand. Newt finally came in to check on them, swinging the door open with his hand covering his eyes.    
“Guys?”    


“Why the shuck ya doing that?” Minho asked, swatting Newt’s arm down as soon as the blonde haired boy was close enough to them.    


“You’ve been in here for quite a while, I was preparing for any possibility I could think of. And one of them was something I didn’t want to see.” Newt joked lightly, shaking his head. “You both alright though?”    


“Yeah, we’re good. Had some time to think.”    


“Good that. Now how bout you come help the rest of us with the makeshift bags and plastic bag canteens we’re making. We’ll all want to try and get one last good night of sleep in before tomorrow. Isn’t that right, Minho?”    


“It’s a shucking tattoo, you two.”    


“You’re the best chance we got. There isn’t any doubt about it. You saw my leadership skills back in the Maze, they aren’t what we’re going to need out there.” Newt pointed out, providing another reason why it should be Minho.    


“Alright,alright. Fine.” Minho agreed with a grunt, shaking his head. “Let’s get back out there before Audrey notices you’ve been gone too long now and gets any ideas.”    


“Yeah, because that’s bloody likely to happen.” Newt laughed, shaking his head and walking back out to the common room with Thao and Minho right behind him.    


Newt was exaggerating when he said they had makeshift bags and canteens. What they actually had was bedsheets stuffed with food and plastic bags filled with water, wrapped in some of the material ripped from the curtains. No one could expect the canteens to last very long without leaking, but it was pretty much their best and only option if they wanted water. 

By nine o’clock, almost everyone was lying in a bunk. The room was silent, but no one was sleeping. Thao could feel the fear pulsating through the room, their thoughts preventing them from sleeping. 

Newt was holding Audrey on the bottom bunk. They were the first to get into bed, so Thao had seen them curled up before she had hopped onto the top bunk. Audrey was laying on Newt’s bare chest, facing the wall, and drawing patterns on his skin. Newt had made eye contact with Thao before she got into bed, the pair having a silent conversation with their eyes.

Thao now lay on her bunk, staring at the crack of light beneath the bathroom door. The water had been running for far longer than it needed to, for Minho to be washing his hands, or brushing his teeth. She almost decided to get up to check on him, but decided he needed to figure this out on his own. 

He did eventually come back, and many of the Gladers had fallen into restless sleep. He walked over to Thao’s bunk, placing his chin on the mattress. “ _ I want to come up.”  _ He mouthed, leaning his head into her hand when she reached to touch his face.

“ _ You can’t” _

_ “Please.” _

Thao stared at him for a long few minutes, weighing the consequences. “ _ It can’t ever happen again.”  _

_ “I know.” _

_ “You’re our leader.” _

_ “I know.” _

_ “You can’t be in a relationship.” _

_ “I know.” _

_ “Even a secret one.”  _ Sadness struck his eyes, and he looked like he might start crying again. Thao ran her thumb over his cheek bone, looking at him sadly. 

“ _ I know.” _ She slid back in her bunk, towards the wall, giving him more space. He ducked down for a second, presumably conversing with Newt, before climbing up and sliding under the covers. He lay facing her, his arm draped over her waist. She slid closer to him, closing her eyes.

It wasn’t comfortable, to say the least. The fear that hung in the room made them want to cling to each other and cry. Thao knew Minho always begged her to share a bed, though. She knew how much he wanted to just  _ be _ with her. Even though this wasn’t an ideal situation, she was well aware this would most likely be his only chance, ever, to experience that. She fell asleep to the sounds of his soft snores, and ragged breath.


	6. Newt

Every Glader had set the alarm’s on their digital watch for five o’clock in the morning, but Newt was up before a single one went off. He glanced down at the watch on his arm, and looked at the time. Four thirty five. Great, still another twenty five minutes to go.    


He thought that it would be boring just laying in bed, waiting for time to go by until they got up and prepared to enter Phase Two. But instead he found it rather relaxing, listening to the quiet sounds of all the Gladers sleeping around him.  _ This is probably the last time your going to be sleeping in a proper bed, listening to this sound with this girl you love cuddling against your chest for a long time, so you better bloody take it all in now.  _ He told himself as he looked down at Audrey, whose hair had fallen over her face. He smiled a bit, and gently pushed it back behind her ear before kissing the top of her head.    


Then his thoughts drifted to his two friends who he knew were sharing a bed above him, and his smile grew a little more. Even if they still didn’t become anything official or not, secret or not, Newt was happy for them right now. He wished that circumstances were different, and that his friends didn’t feel like they had to hide their feelings for everyone else’s sake but he was also happy they had taken advantage of this small opportunity to just be beside each other.     


“Newt..” Audrey whispered, snapping his attention back down to her in two seconds.    


“Morning love. Sleep well?” He asked quietly, tightening his grip around her.     


“I guess. Did you?”    


“Yeah.” He smiled. _Why do you lie to her, she can always tell you slinthead._   


“What was it about this time?”    


“You, Min and Thay. You were all those people in the windows.” He mumbled, and she gently scooted up to be able to place a kiss on his cheek.    


“Never going to happen. Okay?” Even though they both knew if they failed this Phase, it could. 

“We don’t know what’s out there.” He muttered, playing with her hair for a few more minutes before the alarms started going off. Minho was off the bed faster than most of the gladers could even open their eyes. 

“Up and at ‘em, Shanks.” He called, earning many groans from the gladers. “Quick showers, and then I want everyone out there sitting at a table.” He ordered, walking towards the bathroom for a quick shower himself. 

At five-fifty, all the Gladers were sitting at tables in the cafeteria. Minho stood at the head of their table, staring at his watch. “Ya should make a speech or something.” Newt muttered, elbowing his best friend in the gut. 

“Yeah.” Minho breathed, walking to a more central part of the room. “Right. Everyone still sure they want to go?” Everyone in the room nodded, to Newt’s relief. “If some sissy decides to turn back, i’ll make sure they do it with a broken nose, and smashed privates.”

_ Cheerful. Always uplifting Min. _ He groaned, dropping his head into his hands.  _ Leader, Minho. Leader, not Hitler. _

“Got a problem Newt?” Minho asked in a stern voice. Newt stared at him for a few seconds before clearing his throat.

“No, just admiring you bloody leadership skills.” Minho scowled at him, leaning down to show Newt his tattoo.

“What’s that say, shuck-face?” Newt was taken aback by Minho’s attitude, but realised it was probably his fear driving him.

“We know you’re the boss, Minho. Slim it.” He felt his face heat up as they held their eye contact. For someone who was previously under Newt’s supervision until a few days ago, he sure was playing it up. 

“You slim it. We don’t have time for that kind of klunk.” 

“It’s six o’clock.” Thao interrupted, getting to her feet.    


As if her outburst had triggered it, the invisible shield turned opaque again, fogging to a splotchy white. A split second later it vanished altogether, if anyone had blinked they would’ve missed it. The wall opposite them now had a large section that had transformed into a flat, shimmering surface of murky, shadowy gray.    


“Come on!” Minho yelled, pulling the strap of his bag onto his shoulder. He was gripping the water bag in his other hand. “Don’t mess around--we only have five minutes to get through. I’ll go first. Thomas, you go last--make sure everyone follows me before you come.”    


Thomas nodded from his spot next to Aris, reaching up and wiping some sweat off his forehead.    


Minho walked up to the wall of gray, then paused right in front of it. The Flat Trans seemed completely unstable, impossible for anyone to focus on. Shadows and swirls of varying shades of darkness danced across it’s surface. The whole thing pulsed and blurred, as if it might disappear any second.    


“See you shanks on the other side” Minho turned back to look at them, just before he stepped through, the gray wall of murk swallowing him whole. As much as Newt would have loved to go in right after Thao, he made sure a few others got in before finally letting go of Audrey’s hand and preparing to send her through.    


“I’ll be in right after you.”    


“Better be. Who knows what's over there.” She smiled, kissing his cheek before readjusting her bag and stepping through like everyone else before her. Newt waited about two whole seconds before stepping though after her.    


The other side was solute darkness, just like the common room when they had first left the dorm room. He could hear the Gladers talking up ahead, and used that to try and find Audrey. Seconds later, he was holding a hand he really hoped was hers.    


“Auds?” He asked quietly, and squeezed the hand gently.    


“Yeah. It’s me. Although I’m pretty sure you almost grabbed Frypan’s hand.” She answered, much to his relief.    


“Not that I would've minded, Dude.” Frypan muttered. “It’s shuckin’ creepy in here.” 

“Hey-” A voice called out. It was Thomas, meaning everyone had stepped through the Flat Trans. “You guys-” His voice was cut off, like he fell over, and then Newt heard Clara yelling for Thomas to get off of her. 

“Shut up!” Minho called. “Thomas, you here? Everyone else is too?”

“Yes.” Thomas groaned, voice straining like he was standing up. 

“Let’s number off. Aris, you start.” Minho ordered through the dark, voice steady, but fearful.

“One.”

“Two.”

“Three.”

“Four.” This was Audrey.

“Five.” Newt called, voice a lot less steady than he would have liked. They continued to could off until Isabella called “Twenty-One.”

“Good that. We’re all here.” Minho informed them, like they didn’t already know. “Can’t see a shuck thing.” 

“We should move.” Newt heard Thao’s voice, a little closer than he expected. 

“Thao?” 

“Newt? I’m right here, follow my voice.” Newt pulled Audrey in the direction of Thao. He hit something hard, and stumbled back a few steps into Audrey.

“Slinthead.” It was Minho. “Listen up. I figure this is some kind of hallway, there’s walls on both sides. I think you’re all standing to my right, and Tomboy is back at the Flat Trans thingamajiggy. Everyone follow my voice, we don’t want to wander back through that thing. We’re gonna head this way and see what we find.” His voice got slightly quieter, and Newt realised he was moving.

He tugged on Audrey’s hand, and the Gladers started to move down the hall. Newt ran his unoccupied hand along the wall. The surface was cool, and felt like rock. No one spoke as they moved forwards. The air was cool, but smelt like old leather and dust. On and on they went, the tunnel stretching ahead without ever turning to the left or right. All that was ahead was darkness, there wasn’t even the slightest hint of light.    


Soon the only sound that could be heard was the scrapes of shoes on the hard concrete. Newt was glad that he had a tight grip on Audrey’s hand, because the whole straight tunnel of darkness felt like they were floating through space, and any minute they could be ripped away.    


Then, a sudden burst of intense whispering filled the tunnel, coming from above. But it wasn’t any of the other Gladers, Newt knew everyone here.    


“Did you guys hear that?” Minho shouted from up ahead.   


As several Gladers murmured yeses and started asking, Newt gently tugged Audre closer to him, moving to wrap his arm around her shoulder. Minho shushed everyone again, telling them to listen. Soon the tunnel was quiet again, and moments passed before the voice returned.

This time the ancient voice whispered harshly, echoing through the air as if huge speakers were installed on the ceiling. Newt wouldn’t put it passed WICKED.    


“Did anybody get what it said?” He asked once the whispers had stopped again.    


“Couple of words.” Winston replied “Sounded like, ‘go back’ right in the middle.”    


“Yeah, it did.” Stan agreed.    


“Everybody slim it and listen real hard this time.” Minho announced, and once again the hallway became silent.    


“ _ One-chance deal. Go back now, you won’t be sliced _ .” The mysterious voice whispered again, causing the Gladers to break out into a panic.    


“Won’t be sliced?”    


“What’s that supposed to mean?”    


“He said we can go back!”    


Newt felt Audrey tightening the grip she on his arms as the panic broke out, but she still remained quiet.    


“Just keep going!” Thomas shouted from his spot in the back. “I can’t take this much longer. Just go!”    


“Wait a minute.” Frypan said, sounding defensive. “The voice said this was a one-chance deal. We have to at least think about it.”    


“Yeah, maybe we should go back.” Marie mumbled, sounding scared.    


“No way, remember what that guy at the desk told us. That we’d all die horrible deaths if we go back.” 

“But-”

“Fry. It’s just a test dude. Ignore it, let’s get going.” Thao told him. Newt felt her and Minho walk away again, heading down the hall. Newt had barely started moving when the voice rang out again.

“ _ You’re all dead. You’re all going to be sliced. Dead and sliced.” _ The voice sent chills down Newt’s spine, and he felt Audrey shudder beside him. The Gladers remained silent, following Minho’s footsteps into the darkness, The air soon became dustier, and many of the Gladers coughed. 

“Don’t drink anything, slintheads.” Minho called back. “You don’t wanna be lickin it off the floor when your shuck-face drops it.” The darkness seemed to stretch on forever, driving Newt mad. He couldn’t see, and he was afraid that he would walk into something, or something would walk into him. 

“How ya holdin’ up?” Audrey whispered, wriggling her fingers slightly.

“No idea.” He told her, honestly. He couldn’t even focus on his thoughts anymore, the impending darkness taking over his mind. The minutes seemed to pass on forever, each one feeling like an hour in the dark.    


But then a boy screamed a few dozen feet behind him. It started out as an abrupt shriek, like a simple surprise, and for a second Newt thought maybe some og the Gladers had scared him as a prank. But then it escalated to pure terror, screaming his throat raw, screeching and squealing like an animal at the old Blood House in the Glade. It sounded like his body was thrashing around on the ground.    


“Hey!” Thomas yelled a few seconds later, and Newt wished that they could see through the darkness to help the poor kid. “What’s wrong with you?” The thrashing sound of a body on the ground continued, followed by grunts and groans. Newt’s best guess that it was Thomas as he tried to help the screaming Glader out.    


“Stop it!” Thomas shouted again. “What’s wrong?” But the screams gurgled to a stop, almost as if the kid had been pulled underwater. The trashing could still be heard though, and it sounded pretty painful. Then, moments later that stopped too.    


“Thomas!” Minho shouted from the front. “Thomas what happened?”    


“I..I don’t know. Who was that? Who was down there screaming?” Thomas sounded panicked, and scared and so very confused. He probably had the best idea of what had happened though, and they needed to figure that out. 

“Frankie. I think.” A boy’s voice whispered. It sounded like it could be Clint, but he wasn’t certain.

“What happened?” Minho demanded, his voice suddenly very close to Newt. 

“I don’t know!” Thomas shouted back, sounding terrified. “He was screaming, and I reached for his head and there was just a big metal ball there, no head.”

“That’s klunk.” Minho whispered. Newt could feel his breath on the back of his neck. Newt decided to walk in the direction the supposed metal ball had rolled. He slowly moved his foot along the floor until he hit something hard.

“It’s right here.” He grasped the ball in his hands. It was very heavy, and felt like a large marble. Something warm, wet and sticky covered it’s surface. He heard footsteps, and someone very abruptly walked into him. “Watch it.”

“Sorry Newtie.” Minho whispered, reaching for the metal ball. His fingers brushed against Newt’s and he smiled to himself. He missed Minho’s foolish antics. “What’s on it?”

“I think blood.” Newt admitted, taking his hands off the ball and wiping them on his trousers. “Oh god Min.”

“We need to run. Now!” Minho shouted, setting the ball on the ground. “Spread out a couple of feet, hunch down and- oof, sorry Thao. Hunch down and run. If something comes near your head, beat the crap outta it.” Newt followed Minho’s voice as he walked back to the front of the group. 

He couldn’t find his way back to Audrey, however, but he figured that was a good thing. If his shuck leg gave out, no one would hear him and stop to help his sorry ass. The group set off running. It was hard. The air was hot, and Newt’s leg was already aching. The tunnel smelled of sweat, and Newt was really buggin’ hungry. The ran hard and long, not stopping.   


The Gladers kept going for another few minutes without any screams or problems. But Newt knew better then to get his hopes up, whatever it was that had killed Frankie would likely strike again before they made their way out of the tunnel.    


But this time, when the death ball hit, it was a girl’s scream that rang out across the walls. Suddenly Newt wished he’s never let go of Audrey’s hand, and that he knew where both her and  Thao were. He prayed it wasn’t either of them, because not a single Glader stopped to help or even learn who it was.    


When the girl’s screams were finally cut off with the same gurgling they had heard from Frankie, any hope to go back and save her vanished. Who ever it was, they were gone now. And everyone kept running to save their own lives.    


But then, just when he was starting to lose track of time all together, Minho called out for the group to stop. 


	7. Minho

“Why’d we stop?” Frypan was the first one to recover from all the running they did to actually ask the question, and Minho suddenly remembered that not everyone was use to running like that all the time.    


“Cause I almost broke my shins on something up here.” He said, turning back towards the line of Gladers he knew was there behind the darkness. “I think it’s a stairway.”   


“Well, let’s go up ‘em!” Frypan responded, far too cheerful.  _ Sure, just sound so chipper after we left one of us behind to die alone while we all kept running _ . 

“Ya think? What would we do without you Frypan? Seriously?” He turned and ran up the stairs. His feet felt heavy, it was really shuckin’ hot. He heard footsteps join his soon, presumably Newt’s, followed by the others. His heart cried out for the girl they had left behind. Whether it had been Audrey, Clara, Jordan, or even- even Thao, it pained him to know that no one had stopped to help. 

His skull hit something, hard. “Ow!” He cried out, stars dancing in front of his eyes. He held his hand out to steady himself, but bumped it bumped into something soft.

“Ya just smacked me in the boob, Min.” Thao’s sweet voice informed him. His heart swelled, knowing she was okay. 

“You okay?” Newt called, maybe six or seven steps away. 

“What’d you hit?” Thomas called from the back of the group.

“The top. The shuckin’ roof.” He reached up, sliding his hands along the ceiling. His fingers came into contact with what felt like a latch. He grasped it. “I think I found-” He pushed up on the hatch, and immediately regretted his decision.

White, hot light rushed into the room, blinding everyone. He let go of the hatch, covering his eyes and sinking to the floor. He thought he may have actually gone blind. “Shuck. Looks like we found the shuckin’ sun, ladies and gents. Klunk, that was bright.” 

“Open it a little to let our eyes get used to it.” Newt suggested from below. But then suddenly someone was handing him something and Newt’s voice moved a lot closer. “Here’s a shirt, wedge it in there. Everybody shut your eyes.”    


Minho half shut his eyes, just enough so that when he opened the door he could see enough to jam the shirt in as a stopped and squeeze them shut as fast as humanly possible. A few minutes passed, he wasn't sure how many exactly, but finally he was able to open his eyes fully, without feeling like he was gazing directly into the sun itself.    


From the top of the stairway, he was able to see about twenty five stairs down and instantly started looking around to see who they’d lost. Newt was doing the same thing, and Minho suddenly realized it could have very well been Audrey.    


“Anybody blind now?” He asked a few seconds later, remembering he had to act like a leader and put aside any personal issues. That included looking for one of his friends who also happened to be his best friends girlfriend. “I feel like my eyeballs are roasted marshmallows.”    


“What’s out there?” Someone asked, near the bottom of the stairs.   


Minho shrugged as he peeked through the slit of the open door with a hand half-shielding his vision from the harsh light. “Can’t really tell. All I can see is a lot of shucking light---maybe we are on the shuck sun. But I don’t think there’re any people out there.” He paused, turning to look back inside the stairwell. “Or Cranks.” 

“Let’s get going then. I don’t want any more of that ball stuff killin’ people.” Winston called. He was down near Thomas and- Audrey. She was right there.  _ Shuck yes. That’s my girl. _ Minho laughed in his head, sending a smile her way. She smiled back, giving him an odd look. He just shrugged and stood up properly. He pushed on the door, opening it fully. 

It was even brighter than he imagined, and he had to close his eyes. It was so hot, he thought he might get a sunburn just standing there. Newt moved to stand beside him, and together they lifted half their bodies out. Their feet dangled, just above the stairs, and Minho thought that it must look oddly humorous. “It’s too hot out here, twinkle-toes.” Newt nodded, and they dropped back onto the stairs.

“We can’t go out there till the sun goes down.” Newt explained, brushing the sand off his hands.

“It’s a freakin’ desert out there. I can already feel it burning me.” Minho agreed. The Gladers groaned, some of them slumping onto the stairs, too tired to stand any longer.

“Watch out!” Winston called from his place beside Thomas and Audrey.He was pointing at the ceiling. Minho looked up to see a silvery orb dangling, shining in the sunlight. It looked like a water droplet, almost  _ pretty _ . That was, until it dropped from the ceiling and landed directly on Winston’s face. 

The boy screamed, limbs flailed, and he tumbled down the stairs, bringing Thomas and Audrey with him. Eventually they thumped to a stop, Winston’s back coming to rest by chance on one of the steps; they were nowhere near the bottom. And the light from the door illuminated everything now, showing the Gladers just what they had missed the first two times. Both of Winston’s hands were at his face, pulling at the silver liquid--the ball of molten had already melded with the top of his head, consuming the part above his ears.    


Thomas acted faster than Audrey, jumping over the boy’s body and spun around to kneel on the step directly below him.    


“Get it off me!” Winston yelled as he tried to keep the silver goop from his eyes, and from what Minho could see, it was working.    


“Think they’ll actually be able to help?” Thao whispered up both him and Newt, before turning back to watch.    


Audrey was leaning over the boy now, blocking most of Minho’s view. But it seemed like the three of them were trying to pull the silver off of his head, Thomas and Audrey arguing as they tried to decide on a method.    


“Just do it!” Audrey yelled, shifting ever so slightly, but enough that Minho could see again. “One! Two! Three!” She counted down before the trio gripped at the sides of the ball, yanking it up and away from Winston’s head. Blisters and red marks covered most of his forehead as they managed to pull it back, but they did in fact manage to get it off. Thomas threw the thick sheet down the stairs, and watched it as it disappeared into the darkness.    


Winston was a mess, curled up in a ball and shaking like crazy. Audrey looked like she was trying to help calm him down, but the kid was sobbing in pain, and probably also in fear from what he’d just gone through. The hair on his head had vanished, replaced with raw skin and spots of seeping blood. The acne on his face looked clean and fresh compared to the wounds he had on the rest of his head.    


“You okay man?” He heard Thomas ask, and almost laughed.  _ How do you think he is? He almost got eaten by a metal ball of death.  _ _   
_

“What was that shuck thing?” Minho murmured, despite having just called it a metal ball of death in his head.    


“Magic goop that eats people's heads, that’s what it bloody was.” Newt grumbled from beside him, but he knew that his friend wasn’t nearly as upset as before, know that he knew Audrey was still alive.    


“Has to be some kind of new technology.” Aris said, and Minho remembered that they had a newbie… well, a half new newbie. The boy looked around, obviously noticing the surprised faces, then shrugged and continued. “I’ve had a few splotchy memories come back. I know the world has some pretty advanced techno stuff--but I don’t remember anything like flying molten metal that tries to cut off body parts.” 

Minho pointed absently down the stairwell, passed Thomas, Audrey and a still sobbing Winston. “That crap must keep gelling around your face, then eat into the flesh of your neck until it cuts it clean through it. Nice. That’s real nice.” 

“We gotta get out of here. The shuckin’ thing came right from the ceiling.” Thao said. He hand reached out towards Minho, like she was going to hold his hand. She stopped, probably realising what she was doing, and awkwardly swung her hand back and forth at her side.

“Buggin’ right. Let’s get outta here” Newt agreed, turning back to the open door. Minho stared down at Winston. He wanted to leave the shank behind. 

“Frypan, Jack. You guys get Winston.” He ordered, following Newt up a few stairs. “Come on Tomboy. You’re up here with us, from now on.” He glanced back, making sure Thomas and Audrey were both making their way up the stairs, past the other gladers. They were. “Aris, grab the klunk he dropped.” He added, before stepping out of the darkness and onto the hot sand of the desert. 

It burned instantly. “We need to cover ourselves!” He warned, quickly fumbling with his pack. He dumped the contents onto the sand, unraveling the sheet and throwing it over himself and Thao. “Put this stuff in your pack. I’ll carry it.” He motioned to his spilled supplies once he had made sure they no longer had an exposed skin. 

He looked up to see Newt doing the same with Audrey. The rest of the Gladers were emerging, quickly pairing up, doing the same thing. “Good idea Min. I’m sure the cranks are so scared of bloody ghosts.” Newt commented, managing to fit all their belongings into Audrey’s pack. Thomas- the idiot- was wearing his own sheet, by himself, and had it wrapped around his head like a shawl.

“How do I look?” He asked Minho, raising his eyebrows suggestively. 

“Like the ugliest shanky girl, ever.” Minho told him, rolling his eyes.

“Thanks dude.”

“You’re so welcome,  _ sweetheart.”  _ Thomas made gagging noises, before walking over to Aris, who had just emerged from the stairs. He offered to shared with him, which Minho thought was quite nice, considering he was technically Casey’s imposter.  _ Who knows, maybe Tomboy likes boys too _ .

“How far do you reckon those buildings are?” Newt asked, pointing over the wastelands in front of them. About thirty miles in front of them was a cluster of buildings, squatting together like a pile of abandoned boxes. It had to be a town, but it was impossible to tell how big it was from this distance. A line of jagged and barren mountains rose from behind the town, but other then that there was nothing. Not a single tree. Not a bush. No hills or valleys. Just an orange-yellow sea of dust and rocks; wavering currents of heated air boiled on the horizon like steam, floating upward, as if any life out there were melting toward the cloudless and pale blue sky.    


“I’d guess a hundred miles.” Thomas shrugged, his hand over his forehead to help him see over the still rather harsh light. “That’s definitely North. Is that where we have to go?”    
Minho shook his head. “No way, dude. I mean, we’re suppose to go that way, but it’s not even close to a hundred miles. Thirty at most. And the mountains might be sixty or seventy.”    


“Didn’t know you could measure distance so well with nothing but your bloody eyeballs.” Newt joked, or at least Minho thought it was a joke.    


“I’m a Runner. You get a feel for stuff like that in the Maze, even if it's a smaller scale.”    


“The Rat Man wasn’t kidding about those sun flares.” Thao said as she looked around from under the sheet they were sharing. “Looks like a nuclear holocaust out here. I wonder if the whole world is like this.”    


“Let’s hope not. I’d be happy to see one tree right about now. Maybe a creek.”    


“I’d settle for a patch of grass.” Newt said through a sigh.    


“Who knew it would ever be possible to miss the Glade.” Audrey mumbled, before Thomas started talking over her.    


“Could this be any more different from what they put us through in the Maze? There, we were trapped inside walls, with everything we need to survive. Now we have nothing holding us in, but no way to survive unless we go where they told us to. Isn’t that called irony or something like that?”    


“Something like that. You’re a philosophizing wonder.” Minho agreed. “Come on. Let’s get walking. No time to waste letting the sun suck all the water out of us.” 

They set off walking, sheltering their skin from the sun. Minho had their pack slung over his shoulder, his arm bumping against Thao’s. “Know what’s shuckin’ hot?” He asked grinning at her.

“Oh no. Do not make this joke. I’m tired of your dumb pick up lines”

“I won’t. Promise.” He pouted teasingly, giving her his best puppy dog impression. She sighed in surrender. “Know what’s shuckin’ hot?” He asked again.

“This place?”

“More like your face.” 

“Wow. You’ve wooed me Minho. Unfortunately I told your sorry butt that we can’t be having any of this secret stuff.” She didn’t look at him. “You’re the leader, and you need to stay focused.”

“I know but-”

“What the shuck?” Frypan yelled. Minho stopped in his tracks. Up ahead were two figures, walking towards them. 

“Everyone pack in tighter,” Minho said, glancing over at Thao quickly. “And get ready to fight these shanks at the first sign of trouble.    


The blurry mirage of upward-melting heat obscured the two figures until they were only a hundred yards or so away. At first Minho thought maybe they were Cranks, but then they stopped a couple dozen feet from the group. And Minho realized these people scared him in a different way.    


One was a man and the other was a woman, but they had the same build--tall and scrawny. The only way to tell one was a woman was because of her slightly curvy figure. Their heads and faces were almost completely covered in wrappings of tattered beige cloth, small ragged slits cut for them to see and breathe through. Their clothing was all a hodgepodge of filthy pieces of cloth sewn together, tied with ratty strips of denim in some places. Their hands were the only thing uncovered, and were red, cracked and scabby.    


“Who are you?” Minho called out, but the strangers didn’t move. They just continued to stand there, panting as they tried to catch their breaths. “Who are you?” He tried again, getting frustrated that they didn’t answer. “There are a whole lot more of us than there are of you. Start talking. Tell us who you are.”    


“We’re Cranks.” The woman said in a short burst of annoyance.    


“Cranks? Just like the ones that tried to break into our building a couple days ago?” He moved closer to them, bringing Thao along with him under the sheet.    


“We’re Cranks. Came to see if you’re Cranks. Came to see if you got the Flare too.” This time it was the man who spoke, pointing over at the rest of the Gladers.    


“Some dude told us we had the Flare, yeah. What can you tell us about it?”    


“Don’t matter. You got it, you’ll know soon enough.” The man responded, the cloth wrapped around his face jiggling with every word.    


“Well, what do you bloody want?” Newt asked, stepping to stand next to Minho, bringing Audrey with him under his own sheet. “What’s it matter to you if we’re Cranks or not?” 

“Who are you? How did you get here?” The woman asked, tilting her head to the side. She reminded Minho of a possessed doll, and she was really starting to creep him out. 

“What do we tell ‘em?” He asked through his teeth.

“The truth?” Thomas suggested from behind.

“Great idea!” Thao hissed. “Freaking brilliant.” Minho rolled his eyes, but took the advice anyways.

“We’re sent by WICKED. Came out of a tunnel, a little ways back. Supposed to head a hundred miles North. Mean anything to you?” The woman’s eyes bore into his, and he suppressed a shudder. He felt like she could read his every thought. 

“Not all Cranks are past the Gone.” She answered, a large smile forming on her lips. SHe was missing about ten teeth, and the rest were black. 

“If you’re coming our way, you better know how to identify those past the Gone.” The man added. 

“You’re from that town, right?” Minho asked, gesturing at the town in the distance.

“Is there food and water there?” Audrey asked, finally speaking up. The pair surveyed them again, before circling around the group of Gladers. Minho stood rooted to the spot. When they met up again, the woman smiled at Minho.

“If ya don’t have it yet, you’ll have it soon. Same with the other group. The one sent to kill you.” They turned around and left, leaving a thick tension over the group.   


“Wonder if they mean my groups.” Aris mumbled from beside Thomas, watching as the two strangers disappeared.    


“Group B? You think they’ve made it to the town?”    


“Hello!” Minho snapped, “Who cares? You’d think the little part about them supposedly killing us would be the attention getter. Maybe this stuff about the Flare?”    


“Maybe when she said ‘you’ she didn’t mean all of us.” Thomas said, pointing back at his tattoo. “Maybe she meant me specifically. Couldn’t tell where her eyes were looking.”    


“How’s she gonna know who you are?” Minho retorted. “Plus, doesn’t matter. If someone tries to kill you, or me, or anyone else, they might as well try to get all of us. Right?”    


“You’re so sweet.” Frypan said with a snort, “Go ahead and die with Thomas. I think I’ll sneak away and enjoy living with the guilt.” He cast his special look that meant he was joking, and Minho secretly prayed that's all it was. A joke. If the group wanted any chance to survive, they needed to stick together through this all.    


“Well, what do we do now?” Jack asked, helping to hold Winston upright as they were walking through the wasteland.    


“What do you think?” Newt asked, looking over at Minho.    


“We keep going, that’s what. Look, we don’t have a choice. If we don’t go to that town, we’re gonna die out here of sunstroke or starvation. If we do go, we’ll have some shelter for a while, maybe even food. Cranks or no Cranks, that’s where we’re going.”    


“And Group B? Or whoever they were talking about. What if they really do wanna kill us? All we have to fight with are our hands.” Thomas asked.    


“If there group is more girls than it is guys like Aris said, then I’ll show ‘em these guns of mine and they’ll go running.”    


“Wow Minho, you’re right. They’ll be so terrified of you just because you flash them your biceps.”    


“Yeah, Eleanor is right. Or what if they have weapons? Or if it’s not them and a bunch of seven foot tall grunts who like to eat humans? Or a thousand Cranks?” Thomas pushed, spreading the fear around the group.  _ Great, Thanks _ .    


“Thomas….no. Everybody.” He sighed, having to regain everyone’s attention now. “Would everybody just shut their holes and slim it? No more questions. Unless you have an idea that doesn’t involve absolute certain death, then quit pipin’ and let’s take the only chance we got. Get it?” Minho peered over the group as they all listened, and noddd in satisfaction. “That’s better. Anybody else wanna pee their pants and cry for Mommy?” No one said anything, but a few Gladers let out a series of snickers. “Good. Newt, you and Audrey lead up front this time. Thomas, you in the back. Jack, get someone to help with Winston to give you a break, Let’s go.” 

He turned and started walking away from the group, making sure Thao was sticking by his side. She touched his wrist, and for a moment he thought she was going to hold his hand, but instead she took the pack, slinging it over her own shoulder. “I can carry it.” He argued, but he was glad to have the weight off his arm.

“So can I.” She smiled up at him, and he was tempted to put his arm around her shoulders.

“You’re short, y’know.” It was true, the hop of Thao’s head barely reached his shoulders. 

“You’re tall.” She laughed, looking out at the plain in front of them. “This is shucked. We’re just a bunch of lab rats.”

“We’re gonna jog a bit guys, need to make good time!” He called back to the group, breaking out into a slow, comfortable pace. “I know. It’s weird that we never agreed to this, but we still have to do it.” He spoke to her again.

“You’re doing a really good job. Scared the klunk outta Newtie boy this morning.”

“Serves him right, he was being a slinthead.” Minho shook his head as they ran on. The time passed by achingly slow, but the sun was finally starting to set, and the world was cooling down. 

“Sky looks nice.” Thao commented about an hour after they left the cranks. The sky was turning a hazy, purple color.

“You look nice.”

“You need to get better lines.” She laughed, shaking her head. They slowed to a walk again, aware that there was only four of them who could run very far without gasping for air. “Let’s take the sheets off!” She called back to the gladers. They all followed her directions, and Minho took the pack back. 

The sun had finally set, and a cool, crisp air hung over the Gladers. Minho smiled at Thao, admiring her in the moonlight. It was peaceful, and Minho almost enjoyed it.

A girl started screaming in the distance.


	8. Audrey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I missed Friday's upload, you guys get two chapters today!

Somewhere ahead of them, a girl’s screams tore through the air, making Audrey shiver and move closer to Newt as they guided the group of gladers behind them. Eventually they came to a stop, and once everyone caught their breaths the screams became easier to hear. And twice as disturbing. 

It was almost like an injured, wailing cat. The kind of noise that made your skin crawl and press your hands to your ears until it went away. There was something unnatural about it, and the darkness was only adding to the levels of creepiness.    


“You know what that reminds me of?” Minho asked, his voice no louder than a whisper. He had come up front with Thao and Thomas, standing beside Newt.    


“Ben, Alby, Thomas. Screaming after the Griever sting.” She muttered back, shaking her head. “I never thought we’d have to hear someone go through that again after we left the Maze.”    


“No no no!” Frypan moaned. “Don’t tell me we’re gonna have those suckers out here too! I can’t take it.” Audrey resisted the urge to turn around and glare at him, knowing that he was just as scared and confused as she was.    


“Doubt it. Remember how moist and gooey their skin was? They’d turn into a big dust ball if they rolled around out here.”    


“Well, If WICKED can create grievers, they can create plenty of other freaks of nature that might be worse. Hate to say it, but that rat-looking guy said things were finally going to get tough.” Thomas said, and Audrey shook her head. Because the Maze wasn’t tough enough.    


“I think we should take a break.” Minho interrupted before the conversation could carry on any more, and Audrey wanted to hug him for it. “Fill our little tummies and drink up. Then we should book it for as long as we can stand while the sun is still down. Maybe get a couple hours’ sleep before dawn.”    


“And the psycho screaming lady out there?” Frypan asked.    


“Sounds like she’s plenty busy with her own troubles.” Minho shrugged, and for some reason that statement terrified Audrey and caused her to shiver gently before everyone started to slip their packs off, sit down and started eating. 

The woman continued to scream as they ate. “What if that’s Casey.” Audrey whispered to Newt, making sure Thomas was out of earshot. 

“It’s not.” Newt assured her as he started to put everything in their pack again. “I’ll carry this now.” He suggested, securing it in his hand. The rest of the Gladers had begun to pack up their things, and rise to their feet. 

“Is everyone ready to go?” Minho asked once every Glader was on their feet. 

“I’m ready to go home.” A boy named Tim grumbled, trying to adjust the pack he was holding. 

“You don’t have a home, shank.” Minho shot back, making sure the boy knew he didn’t have time for any games.

“He’s really pushin’ it, ain’t he?” Newt asked, scowling in Minho’s direction. 

“I think it’s good. We don’t have time for any slackers.”

“Rule number one.” Newt laughed and smiled at her, before kissing her on the cheek.

“Right, let’s run.” Minho declared, before setting off into the night. Audrey sighed, and followed him. She  _ hated _ running. Her lungs hurt, her feet ached, and she really needed to sleep. 

“How’s your leg?” She asked Newt, after they had been running for about half an hour. Her lungs were killing her.

“Shucked.” He shook his head and ran on. Despite his leg being a mess, Audrey could tell that he still had the stamina of a runner. “You getting tired?” 

“We’ve been up for twenty hours.” She sighed, glancing at her watch, which read one o’clock. “But honestly, I’m just physically tired.”

“I know. We’ve been on the move all day. I figure he’s trying to switch our sleep schedule around. Run through the cool nights, sleep through the day.”

“That’s a really good plan.” She sighed, squinting through the darkness. The girl screamed, yet again, but much, much closer this time.   
  
They continued to run for what felt like ages, but in reality was probably only an hour or two. Finally, they came to a stop and Audrey got a chance to steady her breathing.    


“Stop running and slim it!” Minho yelled, getting everyone to turn their attention on him. “Potty break,” He informed everyone with his hands on his hips as he also steadied out his breathing. “Bury your klunk and don’t do it too close. We’ll rest for fifteen and then we’ll just walk awhile. I know you shanks can’t all keep up with Runners like Thao, Thomas and I.” Audrey really wanted to hug the boy now, because if she had to do anymore running right now she was pretty sure her lungs would explode.    


“How is it you tw--three enjoy this?” She asked Minho, Thao and Newt as she watched the Gladers quickly spread out. She noticed Thomas looking around to see where they were, how far they’d come in the past little while.   


“Gives ya something else to do other then think about klunk.” 

“Hey!” Thomas yelled, pointing to something behind Audrey and the others. “Looks like a little building up there, just a few minutes away, to the right some. You guys see it?”    


“Yeah, I see it.” Minho called back, turning to look at it.  “Wonder what it is.”    


Before anyone had a chance to respond, two things happened almost simultaneously.    


First, the haunted screams from the mystery girl stopped, instantly, cut short as if a door had closed on her. Then, stepping out from behind the dark building up ahead, the figure of a girl appeared, long hair flowing from her shadowed head like black silk.    


“Oh my god.” Audrey whispered, staring at the girl and trying to figure out if it was who she thought it was or not. “That… it can’t be. Can it?” She asked Newt, before slowly turning to look at Thomas for his reaction. If she was thinking it was Casey, he definitely was and could sprint over there without any warning.     


When she turned back to face the girl, she had stepped out from behind the building, or more likely from inside the building and just stood there. Something about her stance made Audrey feel as if she were staring at them with her arms folded over her chest.   


“You think it’s Casey?” Newt asked, looking over at Minho quickly.    


“No clue.”    


“You think she was the one screaming?” Frypan asked. “It stopped right when she came out.” 

“She was probably the one torturing someone.” Minho grunted, scratching the back of his neck. “I hope so at least.” He clapped his hands together, and Audrey got the strange sense he was about to say something snarky. “Who want’s to go meet this nice lady?” He asked the group.

Audrey rolled her eyes. “I’ll do it!” Thomas nearly yelled, stepping towards her already.

“Slim it Tomboy, I was kidding. We’ll all go over there. Don’t want you losing your bits this early in life.” Minho laughed, clapping his hand down on Thomas’s shoulder. “Besides, there could be an army of psycho girl ninjas in that hut or somethin’.”

“Psycho girl ninjas?” Newt broke out into a laugh. The sound made Audrey’s heart swell. 

“No way.” Thomas argued, sending Newt a disapproving look. Audrey thought it made him laugh harder. “I’m going alone. It could be a trap.” 

“Yeah, yeah whatever you say. You just want to get some in that shack.” Minho rolled his eyes, and then his face lit up. “But you gotta be careful, shank.” He opened the pack, and rummaged around for a few seconds, before pulling out a foil packet, and throwing it at Thomas. “Use protection.”

Thomas caught it and rolled his eyes. “Your maturity level is astounding, oh fearsome leader.” He shook his head, but pocketed the packet nonetheless. A few of the Gladers wolf-whistled as Thomas started to walk away. “Slim it!” He called back, but there was a newfound bounce in his step.

“God I hope that’s her.” Audrey mumbled, shaking her head at the antics of the boys. “Other wise he’s walking into a death trap, with nothing but a condom for protection.”

“Hey, it’s better that nothing, at least he won’t get his-” Newt started, with a giant smirk.

“Oh gross.” Audrey spoke over top of him, covering her ears. “How long until we check on him?” SHe asked as Thomas had almost reached the girl.

“Normally, I’d say half an hour, these things take time, but that could very well be a murder psycho girl warrior chick.” Minho explained, stumbling over his words. “Newt and I’ll go in ten. Unless we hear screams that is.”

“Screams can be good.” Newt laughed, and Audrey felt her face flush.

“Newt!”   


“What? They can be.” He chuckled, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.    


“Oh my god. No. Don’t touch me.” Audrey wiggled out from under his hold and stepped away. “You are both being inappropriate right now.”    


“Aww, c’mon love. We’re just joking around.” Newt’s face suddenly shifted from a smirk to a pout.     


“I can’t believe you sent him over there alone.” She mumbled, shaking her head at Newt’s attempt to be cute. It had worked, of course, but she didn’t need him to know that.     


“Would you rather I take Newt’s condom off him and go in after him?” Minho asked, grinning while wiggling his eyebrows. “Dunno how much Tomboy would appreciate it, but I’m more then willing to volunteer.”    


“You are both so mean.” Audrey groaned, knowing her face was probably a deep red by now. “Just stop it.”    


“No way, this is hilarious!” Thao laughed, betraying Audrey and falling into fits of laugher with the other two. But she wasn’t really all that angry, seeing as this was the first time since the Glade she’d seen them all laughing this hard. It was a good moment, even if they were all laughing about how uncomfortable she was. It was hard to keep herself from smiling, seeing them all just relaxing for a while.    


A few seconds later, they all calmed down again. Not by a whole lot, but enough to stand up straight at least. “Audrey, you should see your face right now. It’s shucking hilarious.” Minho said as he tried to catch his breath from laughing so hard.    


“Mhmm, glad you guys think this is so funny.” She smiled now, laughing a little bit herself.    


“Oh, it is.” Thao assured her, only making Audrey laugh a little more.    


“We should sleep once Tommy’s done with that fine a-” Audrey coughed loudly, glaring at Newt.

“I agree, we need to sleep eventually.” She nodded, trying to ignore Newt’s almost-comment.

“We need to run for another hour or so, we don’t want to be running with the sun mid sky.” Minho pointed out, looking around at the Gladers. “This is still your potty break guys.” He told them, as they were all aimless standing around. “God, this is like babysittin’.” 

“Now you know how I felt being second-in-command.” Newt pointed out, messing up his hair. “Excuse me, I’m gonna go over there, and take a well deserved pee.”

Thomas stumbled out of the shack only six minutes later. He stumbled over to the quickly, and Minho laughed. “That good, shank?”

“We need to run. No time to explain, we need to run, now.” He turned on his heel and bolted in the opposite direction.

“Let’s go, now! Run you shanks!” Minho called, grabbing their pack off the ground and sprinting after Thomas. Newt did the same, and pulled Audrey with him. She looked back to see the rest of the Gladers behind her, looks of fear on their faces. Thao and Minho were in the lead, other than Thomas, sprinting hard. 

Watching them gave Audrey a sense of what it was like in the maze for them. Running as fast as they could, for as long as they could. Scared out of their minds. Being chased by the unknown. “Run, Audrey!” Newt yelled, tugging on her arm. She ran faster, heart pounding. 

Thomas eventually slowed down, but the pace was still fast for someone who wasn’t a runner. He was only ten seconds ahead of Thao and Minho, yet they didn’t push themselves to catch up with him. As they slowed, Audrey realised they could very well be running because Thomas was upset again, not because something was chasing him.

“No way he got lucky.” Newt panted from beside her. “Not with this energy.” Audrey tried to reply, but her lungs were burning, so she only managed a strangled breath. 

This went on for a long time. A couple hours they ran after Thomas. He would occasionally break out into a fast pace for a few minutes, and the Gladers had to do the same in order to keep up with him. Audrey had never done so much excersize in her life. 

Eventually, it became too much for even Thomas, and he collapsed to his knees. Audrey stopped, gasping for air, and looked around. Minho and Thao were closest to Thomas, but had fell back slightly. Newt, Audrey, and Aris were next, struggling to keep up. The rest of the Gladers were about thirty feet back. Audrey felt very light headed, and thought she might pass out. She dropped to the ground, resting her forehead on the cool sand.    


“What….Why….What kind of a shuck idiot are you, Thomas.” Minho huffed, a little more then furious with the boy. _Please tell me we ran so much because there was something chasing us. Please._   


But Thomas didn’t answer, and Audrey heard someone kneel down beside him, and finally looked up to see what has happening. Minho was next to Thomas now, and looked beyond pissed off.    


“How could you do that? How could you just come out of there and take off like that? Without explaining anything? Since when is that how we do things? You slinthead.” He let out a big sigh, and fell back onto his butt, shaking his head.

“Sorry.” Thomas finally muttered. “It was kinda traumatizing.” _Shuck we ran that much because he was upset and scared._   


The other Gladers had reached them now, half of them doubling over to catch their breaths and the other half pressing in to hear what Thomas and Minho were talking about. Audrey sat up a little more and started to steady her breathing.    


“Traumatizing?” Minho asked, “Who did you see in there? What did they say?”    


“It was… it was Casey.” Thomas said with a shaky breath, and Audrey looked to Newt. Something was wrong. Very wrong.    


“What? You’re serious?” Minho said after a while. “And you left her there? Dude, you need to start talking and tell us what happened.”    


And Thomas told them. Audrey didn’t exactly hear each detail, but she understood enough of what she was hearing to piece it all together. There was something about her being almost possessed just like Gally had been when he killed Chuck, and she was trembling and crying the whole time. How she screamed for him to leave her alone. And how before he had run, she told him to get away from him, how all of them needed to run and not argue.    


“Wow.” Minho said in a weary voice when Thomas was done, somehow wrapping it all up with that one simple word. “Did you at least get a kiss in?” Thomas flushed. “Good that.”

“It was a trap.” She heard Thomas clearly this time. He spoke with assertiveness, as the other Gladers stayed silent. “She saved us. Broke away from it and saved all our lives.” He took a deep, shaky breath, and Audrey watched Minho pat him on the back. “They’ll make her pay.” 

Audrey, and the rest of the Gladers walked closer to Thomas, so that they could hear the full extent of the conversation. “Dude. If they wanted her dead, she’d be long gone by now. She’s a shuckin’ fighter, and you know it, Tomboy.”

“Yeah, Tommy. Don’t worry too much about her, she’s probably givin’ ‘em Hell.” Newt supplied with a small laugh. “She’ll survive.” 

Thomas nodded, running his hand over his face. “Yeah. Yeah she will.” He agreed, a small smile playing on her lips. 

“Alright, shanks.” Minho yelled. “We should have stopped a ways back, but Thomas here wanted to go for a little stroll.” He whacked Thomas on the back of the head, and Audrey smiled slightly. “We need to rest for a while. Cover yourselves with the sheets.” 

The Gladers got to work, dumping their belongings on the ground so they wouldn’t have to share the sheets. “Was it atleast worth it?” Newt asked out of the blue, looking at Thomas.

“What’s that?”

“Making out.” Newt smirked, trying to find a comfortable position on the sand. Audrey waited for him to get settled, before sliding next to him.

“Well obviously.” Thomas laughed, pulling the sheet over his own head. Newt did the same to Audrey and himself.

“Do you honestly think it wouldn’t be, Newtie boy?” Minho’s voice carried through the air, slightly muffled from whatever sheet he had found himself under. “Like, god- think of those lips-” 

A hollow thunk cut him off, and he groaned in pain. Newt burst out laughing, and Audrey looked up to see tears forming in his eyes. She laughed too.  _ Nice hit, Thay _ . “Can’t argue there, Min.” Newt agreed, and this time it was his turn to get a whack to the head. 

Audrey glared at him, playfully. She heard Thomas groan, and sheets ruffle. “I hate you both.” He muttered. Audrey laughed until she was too tired, and then fell into a deep sleep.


	9. Thao

Minho let them sleep for almost four hours. Not that he had to wake Thao or many of the other Gladers up. The rising and intensifying sun raged its heat down on the land, and it became unbearable. By the time Thao had gotten up and eaten under the sheet, she was drenched in sweat. The smell of body odor hung over them like a stinky mist, and Thao really wished that what was left of the town they were going to would have some new clothes. Or maybe even a working shower, but she knew that was pure luxury now.    


“Let’s go,” Minho said when everybody was ready. And then they were off. Walking towards the town that looked more like a city they closer they got to it. Running was too much work with the sun beating down on them, and they didn’t have enough water left to keep them alive at any faster of a pace. Plus, non-Runners, like Audrey were stiff and sore from all the running they had done the prior day.    


So they walked, sheets held over their heads. As food and water dwindled, more of the packs could be used for protection so not everyone had to stick to the buddy system. But Thao didn’t mind it, giving her a reason to say close to Minho.    


The next few hours consisted of the following; Walking. Breaks for food and water. Walking. Heat, like a dry ocean through which they had to swim. And wind, wind that made the sand  swirl in the air and whip at their skin. But still they kept going, each step becoming just a little agonizing, and quiet in set. No one talked. Talking would take up too much energy.    


It was as if the buildings were alive, growing right before their eyes as they neared. Thao felt like she could almost touch them, but as they walked, and walked, and walked, she felt like they were years away. She sighed, and bumped her hip into Minho’s.

“When are we gonna sleep?” They had barely spoken a word to each other all day. Their mouths were dry, their lips were chapped, and everything they did caused too much physical exertion.

“Two more hours.” Minho mumbled back, drawing the sheet tighter around him. “Even I’m sore. I feel bad for those shanks.”

“I know what you mean. But we gotta show ‘em will power, if the runners start givin’ up, it’s all over.” 

“Good that.” 

Minho held true to his word. Two hours later, at midnight, they stopped to rest. Thao could tell how tired Minho was. His usually smart aleck comments were few in number, and when he did make them, it was more of a tool to divert the others from talking to him. “Tuck me in.” He mumbled as he lay down on the cool sand. 

Thao could see a child-like glint in his eyes, and smile at the boy. She grabbed the sheet from beside him, and laid it utop. “You’re spoiled.” She told him, pulling a sheet over her own head. “Y’know that right?”

“Thank you.” 

She awoke five hours later to find her sheet missing. At first she thought Minho might have taken it. Maybe to pack up their stuff. Or maybe because he got cold in the middle of the night. When she felt the sand pelting her skin, however, she realised a strong wind had carried away most of the Glader’s sheets.

“Rise and shine sunshine.” Newt yelled, packing up his things beside her.

“Sunshine? I don’t see any sun.” Thao yelled back, looking up at the cloudy sky. “What’s going on?”

“The weather.” This came from Minho, who wore a shit-eating grin. 

“You’re not funny, shuck-face.” She groaned, helping the others pack their things in the few sheets that remained. 

“We need to move, find shelter!” Minho called to the other Gladers. “Otherwise we’re gonna get soaked!” They hurriedly finished up, before setting off towards the city.    


They were only a couple of miles away from the closest buildings when they came across an old man lying in the sand on his back, wrapped in several blankets. Jack had been the one to spot him first, and soon Thao and the others were packed in a circle around the guy, staring down at him. 

The stranger had to be at least eighty years old, although it was hard to tell, the wear and tear of the sun might’ve made him just look that way. Wrinkled, leathery face. Scabs and sores where his hair should have been. Dark, dark skin.   


He was alive, breathing deeply, but he gazed at the sky with an emptiness in his eyes. He showed no sign he’d even noticed the Gladers approach.    


“Hey! Old man!” Minho shouted, always the tactful one. “What’re you doing out here?”   


The man didn’t respond to that, or even respond to Thomas when he waved his hand in front of the guys face. Maybe he’s blind.    


“Sir?” Thomas asked. “Mister? Can you hear me? Can you talk?”    


Suddenly Newt was beside Thomas, examining the guy. “”This guy’s a bloody gold mine if we can get him to tell us stuff about the city. Looks harmless, probably knows what to expect when we go in there.”    


“Yeah, but he doesn’t seem to be responding to anything. What makes you think we can get him to talk?” Thao pointed out, shaking her head.    


“Keep trying.” Minho insisted, from behind them. “Thomas, you’re officially our foreign ambassador.  Get the dude to open up and tell us about the goold ol’ days.”    


“Okay.” And Thomas continued to try to get the old man to speak, shouting over the sound of the wind.    


“Do you really think we should be stopping right now?” Thao whispered to Minho, although she had to shout it at him.    


“He’ll get ‘em to talk. We could use the insight.”    


Suddenly, Thomas yelped from in front of them and they quickly turned to see that the man had grabbed Thomas by the wrist.    


“Hey! Let go of me!” Thomas tried to rip his arm away but the old man had a tight grip, and started mumbling something, making Thomas lean in closer to hear what was being said.    


“Storm coming….. full of terror…..brings out... . stay away…. bad people.” The man shouted, only half of his words made it to Thao’s ears, and the next thing she knew the man had shot up into a sitting position and started screaming. “Storm! Storm! Storm!” Repeating the word over and over again, a mucus-thick strand of saliva finally crested over his bottom lip and swung back and forth. He let go of Thomas’s arm, and Thomas quickly scooted back on his butt to get away.  

The wind was getting stronger, and Thao wished she had something to tie her hair back with as the wind whipped around her head. She watched as Audrey, and some of the other girls, including Marie and Clara, tucked their faces into one of the boy’s shoulders. 

“Let’s go!” She called over the group, but she doubted even Minho had heard her. He started waving his arms wildly, trying to get the Gladers’ attention. All the Gladers huddled around him, pressing their bodies together. Minho pointed at the closest building, which couldn’t be more than half an hour of running away. He mouthed the word “Run!” And started to jog towards the building.

Thao caught up to him, and once the rest of the Gladers had joined, they broke out into a sprint. The dust was getting thicker and thicker by the second, and the wind was so strong Thao had to grab Minho’s arm to steady herself. 

Fifteen minutes later, Thao couldn’t see a thing. She had to squint her eyes to keep the dust out, and every breath felt like she was inhaling mass heaps of sand. Minho tugged at her, and they carried on, slowing ever so slightly, so that the other Gladers could keep up.    


Then came the lightning.    


They’d halved the distance to the building--maybe more than that--when the bolts came from nowhere, and the world around them erupted in light and thunder.    


They fell from the sky in jagged streaks, like bars of white light, slamming into the ground and throwing up massive amounts of scorched earth. The crushing sound was too much to bear, and Thao’s ears began to go numb, the horrific noise fading to a distant hum.    


People were falling and getting back up, and staying upright became a whole lot harder now that it was difficult to see and hear everything that was happening around them.    
The sky darkened further, the dust cloud thickened, and suddenly it became impossible to see two feet in front of you, much less anyone else around you.    


We have to reach the building, if we don’t we won’t last much longer out here.    


A bolt of pure white zigzagged from the sky and exploded on the ground right in front of her, causing her to scream, not that she could hear herself. Suddenly she was on the ground, laying on her back and had to quickly scramble to her feet as the lightning danced around her.    


Then she saw something through the dust and fog and rain she wished she hadn’t.    


It was Jack, lying on the ground inside a small crater, writhing as he clutched his knee. There was nothing below that--shin, ankle and foot obliterated by the burst of pure electricity from the sky. Blood that looked like black tar gushed from the wound, making a paste of horror with the dirt. His clothes had been burned off, leaving him naked, injuries spreading across his whole body. His hair was gone and it looked as if his eyeballs…    


There was nothing they could do for him. Absolutely nothing, but he was still alive. So she kept running, just as she had when she heard the girl, Maggie, scream when the metal ball of death had stuck her in the dark. She felt sick to her stomach, but pushed herself to run faster, to make it to the damn building to keep herself alive. 

She ran to catch up to Minho. He was running hard, like he had that night in the maze. She looked to her left, and saw Thomas only a few feet away. He made quick eye contact,  shaking his head and running faster. She had almost made it to Minho when the white light hit the ground in front of them, sending them all flying into the air. She screamed, hitting the ground hard. She saw stars, and felt herself screaming, though she couldn’t heard it. Her right hand seared in pain, and she looked down to find a whole lot more blood than she thought she had in her whole body. 

She saw Thomas stagger to his feet, only to fall back down close by. She gasped, and ran towards Thomas, and the burning body lying on the ground. She fell to her knees beside Minho, helping Thomas throw sand onto his body. Minho rolled in the sand, clearly screaming in agony. His eyes wouldn’t focus on anything as he thrashed about, his clothes, hair, and skin charred.

Together, Thomas and Thao pulled the boy to his feet. He could barely support himself, and he kept coughing up blood. Thao didn’t have time to think about it, they had to get to safety. She could feel the agonizing pain in her hand as the wind blew sand and dirt into the open wound. She screamed out again. They were almost there.

Minho’s whole body was shaking and he kept stumbling as they ran to the building. Thomas glanced at her, his eyes wild and scared. Thao ran harder, together they basically carried Minho to the building. It brought back memories of Newt and Thao carrying Minho back after the griever attack.  _ Oh god, Newt _ .

Thomas stumbled, knocking all three of them down as the lightning continued to attack to ground around them. Gladers were blown off their feet left and right, and Thao’s heart clenched as she saw a mop of blonde hair fly somewhere off to her right. Minho was screaming in pain, his whole body convulsing as if he couldn’t decide if being tense, or limp, was less painful. 

They pulled him to his feet again, just as he coughed up more blood. They pulled him along, the smell of his burnt skin making Thao queasy. Thomas screamed something at her, waving his free arm wildly. Thao couldn’t make out what he was saying, so she gave one final push, the three of them bursting through the door.

The first thing she heard were the screams. Whether they were Minho’s or her’s, she couldn’t tell.

Then, Newt and Audrey were there, instantly assessing all of them before taking Minho from them carefully. But they didn’t take him far, and Thao stayed close as they laid him down against the ground and Audrey started looking at each of the spots where the fire had burned through his clothes.    


No one spoke at all, and the rain outside started to fall harder, and continued to for the next two hours. Most of the Gladers watched, unmoving from the windows, while Audrey and Jeff tried their best to help Minho through the pain as much as they could. Thao sat beside him the whole time, holding his hand after Audrey nodded that it was okay to.    


No one tried to organize things. No one counted off the Gladers or tried to figure out who they had lost out there. They all sat still, besides Audrey and Minho.    


Eventually, Thao lost track of time and had somehow fallen asleep. When she woke up again, she was still holding Minho’s hand while he lay whimpering in pain. Most everyone else was fast asleep, but Audrey was still up and trying to tend to Minho’s wounds. It was obvious it wasn’t going how she wanted, because the girl’s eyes were all red and puffy and everytime she tried something and Minho moaned in pain she tensed, getting angry with herself. Thao scanned the room for Newt, before finding him with his back against the wall a few people over, staring sadly at the blank space on the floor right next to Audrey and Minho.    


“You okay?” She asked, not directing her question at anyone, but hoping for an answer from at least two of the three people in front of her.    


“Okay? Yeah, I guess we’re okay. I mean, we’re alive--guess that’s all that bloody matters anymore.” The bitterness in Newt’s voice couldn’t have been stronger, but Thao knew it was just because he was as stressed out about all of this as she was.    


“Sometimes I wonder.” Thomas said from somewhere behind her.    


“Wonder what?”    


“If being alive matters. If being dead might be a lot easier.” Thomas mumbled, and Thao heard Audrey suck in a breath _. Oh god._   


“Please. I don’t believe for one second you really think that.” Thao watched Newt as he said it, letting out a small sigh at his response.    


“You’re right. Just trying to be as miserable as you.” Thomas laughed, completely unaware that his joke wasn’t in the least bit funny. Thankfully, Newt changed the topic.    


“What bloody happened to him?”    


“Lightning strike somehow caught his clothes on fire. How it did that without frying his brain I have no idea. But Thao and I were able to help him beat it out before it did too much damage, I think.”    


Thao looked down at her hand, which was now completely bandaged up, though the strips of sheet were starting to turn red. “Shuck.” She whispered. It was bandaged so tightly she couldn’t move any of it.

“It’s pretty bad.” Audrey spoke up from beside Newt. She pointed at Thao’s hand. “It’s like- it’s all broken and mangled. I managed to count five fingers, but i wouldn’t risk unwrapping it any time soon. 

Minho groaned into the quiet, trying to move around a bit. “I’m shucked. I’m shucked for good.” He mumbled, the words barely making it past his lips. 

“I didn’t know our sex was  _ that _ good.” Thao joked, knowing he would have made the joke under different circumstances.

“There’s my girl.” He mumbled tilting his head in the direction of her voice. 

“How bad is it?” Newt asked, sitting forward slightly. Minho managed to push himself into a sitting position, leaning against the wall for support. It took him a while, but he managed to get there with only a few gasps of pain.

“Manageable.” He answered, lolling his head to the side. “What happened to your hand, shank?” 

“Guess you didn’t absorb all the wrath from that bolt.” She held up the bandaged appendage. “Thomas and I got thrown about too.” 

He nodded, and looked around the room. “How many?” 

“Twelve.” Thomas muttered from his place on the wall. “There’s twelve left.” 

“I shuckin’ hope the others are in a different building.” Thao muttered, letting her head drop against the wall behind her.

“We’re kids.” Audrey whispered, out of the blue. “WICKED sent kids out to die.” 

“I reckon Min and Thay aren’t kids anymore.” Newt supplied with a shrug, obviously not sure what to say.

“They’re what? Eighteen? Maybe? They were kids when they were sent into the shuckin’ maze!”   


“Whoa. Let’s calm down and focus on what to do next. Fact is, we’re out here and we have to figure out how to keep those who are still alive… alive. And we can’t do that when we’re this low on food and water, so that’s what we’re doing first. Finding food.” Minho said, stopping the conversation about their age right as it started.   


“Food?” A voice said, except it wasn’t one of the Gladers. This voice came from above. Thao looked up to see a face from the shredded remains of the third floor. That of a young Hispanic man, whose eyes were slightly wild.    


“Who’re you?” Minho shouted.    


The man jumped through the jagged hole in the ceilings, falling towards them. At the last second, he crumpled into a human ball and rolled three times, before springing up and landing on his feet.    


“My name is Jorge.” he said, his arms outstretched as if he expected applause for his acrobatics. “I’m the Crank who runs this place.” 


	10. Newt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't uploaded in forever, so so so sorry!

“You people forget how to talk?” Jorge asked, a smile on his face that looked completely out of place in the shattered building. “Or you just scared of Cranks? Scared we’ll pull you to the ground and eat your eyeballs out? Mmm, tasty. I love a good eyeball when the grub’s runnin’ short. Tastes like undercooked eggs.” Newt discreetly leaned forward and pulled Audrey back towards him, hands slipping around her as he rested his chin on her shoulder.    


“You admit you’re a Crank? That you’re freaking crazy? “ Minho answered, doing a great job of hiding his pain from the mysterious man. 

“Come, my new friends. I’ll only eat your eyeballs when you’re dead.” Newt’s stomach did flips as he thought of his dead friends outside. 

“How many of ya are there?” He asked the man, standing up a little straighter.

“How many cranks? We’re all cranks, hermano.” Newt thought about what Rat Man had said. About how they all had the Flare. He didn’t feel any different, really. His friends weren’t acting any different. Considering their circumstances, that was.

He looked at Audrey, tilting his head ever-so-slightly. He was so tired and dehydrated, he couldn’t focus on anything else. Especially not what this Crank was saying. He watched the movements in Audrey’s face. 

She bit her lip when confronted. And she blinked extra, Newt thought, watching her eyelashes fall. She had a worried expression on her face, and Newt thought she looked beautiful. He watched as he face got more and more worried. Someone was counting in the background. He desperately needed water.

“Do it!” Thomas shouted, bringing Newt’s attention back to the group. 

“Seven.” It was Jorge. “Eight.” Something moved above him, a streak of light. It had to be another Crank. “Nine.”

“I’m sorry.” The rushed words tumbled out of Minho’s mouth, but his expression was insincere. 

“I don’t think you meant that.” Jorge mocked, kicking Minho right in the leg. Minho cried out and clutch his leg, doubling over. The spot where he was kicked was singed, and there was a slow trickle of blood now running from the tear and down his pant leg. “Say it with meaning, hermano. Say it with meaning!” He screamed the last word with a harshness that sounded crazed.    


“I’m sorry.” Minho said between heavy breaths, his voice strained and full of pain. Jorge smiled and relaxed, obviously satisfied with the humiliation he’d inflicted. But then Minho, being Minho, did something stupid. He swung out his arm and slammed it into the Crank’s shin.    


The man leaped onto his other foot, then fell, crashing to the ground with his own yelp, a sheirk that was half surprise, half hurt.    


Then Minho was on top of him, yelling a string of obscenities that surprised almost everyone in the room. Everyone but him and Thao. Even Audrey had gasped quietly as Minho swore. Then Minho was punching Jorge like crazy, and despite wanting to get up and stop him, Newt just sat and watched, too drained to do anything other then hold onto Audrey. 

Thankfully, Thomas seemed to have more energy than him.  “Minho! Stop!” Thomas was on his feet and over at Minho’s side in seconds, ready to tackle their silly leader off Jorge. Suddenly ropes appeared from above them, and people were getting ready to come down from the third floor, where Jorge had come from.    


Thomas rammed into Minho, sent him sprawling off Jorge as they crashed to the ground. “There’s more of them up there!” He yelled as he wrapped his arms around Minho’s chest and squeezed against his struggles to escape. “You have to stop! They’ll kill you! They’ll kill all of us!”    


Jorge had staggered to his feet, slowly wiping a thin trail of blood from the corner of his mouth.    


Some of his Crank friends had dropped down now, either flipping down as Jorge had done or sliding down the rope. They all gathered behind their leader, and Newt pulled Audrey back towards him some more, mentally preparing himself for whatever was going to happen next. If they tried to hurt Minho, or anyone else there would be hell to pay.    


“Wait!” Thomas shouted. “Please wait!” Minho had quit fighting, and Thomas finally let him go.”Please give us a minute, wouldn’t do you people any good to… hurt us.”    


“Won’t do us any good? It’ll do me a lot of good. That, I can guarantee, hermano.” 

New glanced around at the other Cranks, realising they all had some form of weapon. Some held knives, machetes, giant spikes, broken glass. The weapons were covered in blood too. Most of it looked dry, but a few weapons had red dripping off. And what did the Gladers have?  _ Shucking condoms. _

Newt started to panic. They had to get out of there. Just as he was about to scream at the Gladers to run, Thomas stepped forward. “We’re valuable. There’s something about us that’s special. We aren’t random shanks.”

“What’s a shank?” Jorge asked, curiosity taking over the anger on his face. 

“Me and you. Ten minutes. Alone. Bring all the weapons you need.”  _ Slinthead. Dumb shank. Shucking shuck-head. _ The obscenities flew through Newt’s mind as he stared awestruck at Thomas. 

“Ten minutes.” Jorge agreed, with a laugh.” Rest of you stay here and watch these kids. Kill em if I give the word.”Jorge and Thomas stared at each other for a few long seconds, before leaving and walking down a long hall. 

One of the Cranks stepped forward. She had long dark hair, and wore a small, mischievous smile on her face. She was rather pretty. She walked up to Minho, who was still in the center of the group. Newt noticed that his stance changed slightly, he stood taller, and his chest puffed out slightly more.  _ She was really pretty. _

“Hey, shank.” She laughed, using the Glader word with ease. A crazed look flashed across her face, reminding Newt that she really was a Crank. Then she punched Minho square in the jaw. “I’m Brenda. That was for Jorge.”

Newt almost laughed as she did, and probably would have if Minho wasn’t just struck by lightning just a few hours before. Audrey shifted in his arms, and he suddenly realized that she wasn’t the only Crank that had gotten closer to the group. An older man had started walking towards them, holding a nasty dagger in one hand and a big hammer in the other. He looked tough, despite probably being the oldest person there.    


He walked circles around the twelve kids, a huge crazed smirk on his face. “I can’t wait until Jorge let’s us at you..” He mumbled as he passed Newt and Audrey again, chuckling creepily and swinging his hammer at them, stopping it just before it hit Audrey’s right arm. She didn’t flinch though, and just squirmed uncomfortable as he kept walking. A few others came and inspected the group, and Newt hoped that Thomas knew what he was doing.    


“What do we do if he can’t talk our way out of this?” Thao muttered quietly as she and Minho slowly moved towards Newt and Audrey.    


“These guys all have weapons, and some of them look crazy enough to kill us with their bare hands. If Thomas can’t talk his way through this, we’re all dead.” Newt sighed, looking at Minho. “I figure either way, you’re probably dead.” 

Minho looked sheepish, and scratched the back of his neck. He winced in pain. “I don’t know how well I can run.” He admitted, glancing down at his burnt body. “Whataya think, doc?” He asked, turning to Audrey.

“I think you should be in a hospital.” She shot back, looking over his shoulder at the Cranks who were getting a whole lot closer. 

“C’mon Tomboy.” Minho muttered, stepping away from their little group. “I can try to talk her up.” He nodded his head towards Brenda, who kept eyeing their little group. 

“I don’t think she’s past the-the Gone? That’s what they called it, right?” Thao asked, their voices barely audible. Newt nodded, staring at the Cranks who were only a few feet behind them. Minho and Thao turned around to look at their new acquaintances. “Did you want something?”

They smiled at her. The same creepy smile the woman had given them out in the Scorch. Newt shuddered involuntarily and pressed himself closer to Audrey. 

“Hey, she asked you a question.” Minho yelled forcefully.  _ He’s really pushin’ it with these buggin’ peop- things? Creatures? Cranks? _ Newt tightened his grip on Audrey and pulled her further away from the Cranks. 

“Think you’re so brave, don’t ya?” This was from Brenda. She strolled over to them. Minho stepped forward, while Newt pulled Audrey back until they were against the wall. Thao stood rooted to the spot. Newt looked to see that the other Gladers were pressed against the wall as well. Brenda kept walking until she was less than a foot away from Minho. 

He stared down at her, having the advantage of being taller. She had a smile on her face, it was close to the Crank-y smile, but wasn’t quite there. She leaned in closer to him, tracing her hand on the side of his face. She looked sneaky. Minho looked cocky. And Thao looked downright offended. 

“But let’s be honest, tough guy.” Her fingers traced across his cheek, to his lips. Her eyes fell to stare at them. Even Newt felt mildly offended at this point.  _ It’s kind of hot though. _ He admitted.  _ Newt!  _ “You’re fucking terrified.”

Her lips were centimeters from his, hands trailing down his body.  _ Newt _ was shuckin’ terrified. Minho was in way too deep, and Newt didn’t know how much he would be able to help his friend. 

Her hands stopped on the waistband on his pants, and she glanced back up to meet his eyes. “Admit it.” When he didn’t, she shoved him back, and then pulled him flush against her body. “I said admit it.” She spoke against his mouth this time, and Minho looked like he couldn’t even think straight. Newt wanted to look at Thao but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“I’m terrified. So shuckin’ terrified. God.” He whispered, but the room was so quiet, that people three buildings away could have heard it.    


“Really Minho?” Audrey spoke from beside Newt, and he looked down to see her glaring at him.  _ Oh shuck. _ “That was disturbing. Impressive as hell, but completely disturbing.” She turned to look at Brenda now, who looked like she was about to break out in fits of laughter now. Audrey probably would have continued to go off on the two some more, but Jorge and Thomas entered the room again, shifting the attention back to them.    


“All right, everybody listen!” Jorge announced, walking to the middle of the room with Thomas off to the side. “Me and the bird-face here have come to a resolution.”    


The Cranks finally all backed up and stood at attention, Brenda moving to stand with them. But the grip they all had on their nasty weapons tightened, and Newt moved so that he was nearly blocking Audrey from their sight.    


“First, we need to go get these people food. I know it seems crazy to share our hard-earned grub with a bunch of strangers, but I think we could use their help. Give ‘em the pork and beans--I’m sick if that horse crap anyway. Second, being the grand gentleman and saint I am, I’ve decided not to kill the punk who attacked me.”    


The Cranks all groaned in disappointment, everyone except the Brenda girl. She instead rolled her eyes, waiting for Jorge to finish his speech.    


“Pretty happy, are you?” Jorge said, pointing to Minho, who of course was grinning and waving at everyone.  _ Smug shank, you’re going to get yourself killed one of these days.  _ “Means you’ll take the news well.”    


“What news?”    


Thomas even seemed surprised with the news that came out of the Crank leaders mouth. “After we get you stragglers fed so you don’t go dying of starvation on us, you get to have your punishment for attacking me.”    


“Oh yeah? And what’s that gonna be?” Minho asked, almost teasingly.    


“You punched me with both or your fists. So we’re gonna cut a finger off of each hand.”    


Minho looked like he was going to charge at Jorge, but Brenda moved in front of him holding her dagger up to his neck. If Minho spoke, the dagger would cut his neck. Audrey sucked in a breath, focused on Minho completely.    


“Here’s the plan.” Jorge said calmly, as the hoots and hollers from the other Cranks died down. “Brenda and I will escort these moochers to the stash, let ‘em eat up. Then we’ll meet on the Tower, let’s say one hour from now.” He looked at his watch. “Make that noon on the dot. We’ll bring up lunch for the rest of you.” 

The Cranks scattered. Some climbed upwards, some scurried out the door, and some jumped into holes in the floor. Netw sucked in a breath, watching Jorge closely. Brenda dropped the knife from Minho’s throat with a wink. He backed up quickly, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

“They won’t really cut his fingers off, right?” Audrey whispered, fear in her eyes. 

“Shank deserves it.”

“Newt!” She glared at him and he shrugged slightly, placing a small kiss to his forehead. 

“Let’s go.” Jorge suggested, leading them down the hallway. Newt walked behind Minho, who was looking at Brenda. 

“That’s one sharp knife you got there.” Minho told her. She looked back and fell into step beside him. “Makes me like you more.” Newt groaned,smacking his hand to his forehead. 

“Looks like you’re further past the Gone than me.” She responded, nudging him slightly with her elbow. 

“I’m gonna be sick.” Thao whispered behind him. “Like, I don’t care who he flirts with, honest. But this is just embarrassing.” Newt laughed, nodding his head in agreement.

“He’s lost his bloody mind.” 

“Let’s get you people some food. You look starved.” Jorge called back, leading them along. 

“We gonna eat with these psychos?” Thao asked from her place beside Thomas. 

“Yeah, I don’t want them to cut my fingers off!” Minho agreed, looking worried. 

“I, for one,” Thomas spoke up, his hands deep in his pockets as they walked. “Am starving. Let’s go get some food. I don’t care what happens to your beautiful hands after that, shank.” 

“Whatever.” Minho mumbled staring down at his feet.

Newt shook his head and moved to hold Audrey’s hand as Jorge moved them towards the broken door that lead outside. Brenda was flirting with Thomas now, leaning up to kiss his cheek. The poor boy flushed red, and wasn’t quite as smooth as Minho had been earlier but it didn’t seem to bother Brenda at all.    


“I like you.” She said to him, apparently taking a liking towards Thomas instantly. “Let’s go!” She yelled seconds later, leading the group down towards where the food was. They were lead down a staircase after a long hallway that let in a lot of sun light, and Newt was happy to once again be hidden from it again.    


“Do you think the food will be any good?” A glader, Newt wasn’t paying enough attention to figure out who, asked as they hopped down the stairs behind the group.    


“Who cares? It’s food.” Thao responded from right behind him, and he nodded along in agreement. He’d be happy with just about any form of food right now.    


“You and the others can stay out there in the hallway, find a wall and sit. I’ll start bringing out some tasty delights for you in a sec.” Brenda said to Thomas as they were lead towards a small room, Newt couldn’t see it all though.    


Eventually they had all sat down in the hallway, and waited for Brenda to bring them their food, which ended up being canned beans and some type of sausage. They ate it cold, but it tasted just as good as anything Frypan could’ve whipped up.    


“I didn’t realize I missed food this much. Not since Rat Man starved us anyways.” Audrey mumbled from beside him, finishing up her last bite with a sigh. Newt looked around him, finally taking a chance to see who was left. 

Aris was there, sitting beside Minho. Frypan, thank god, was stuffing his face with sausage. Clint, Jeff, and Jackson were having a quiet discussion, about halfway down the hall. The remaining two were Jordan and Clara, who were sitting quietly, munching on a bit of food, but not speaking. That was it. Of all the people in the Glade, these were the remaining twelve. 

Brenda and Jorge were standing alone, at the far end of the hall, whispering quietly. “Tommy. I’m sorry to say, but Minho was a whole lot better at flirting.” Newt laughed, causing all his friends to look at him.

“Was not!” Thomas defended, his eyebrows raised.

“I so was! She kissed me,  _ on the lips _ .” Minho bragged, crossing his arms.   


“Happy you finally got your first kiss?” Thomas shot back, challenging the boy.

“Please, I’ve kissed way more girls than you have!” 

“Doesn’t make you a better flirter!” Thomas countered, a smirk on his face.

“Oh please.” Thao spoke up, looking between the pair. “Neither of you are half as good at flirting as I am! I could walk over there, talk to her for about two minutes, and we’d be in the washroom with our clothes off just like that.”

“Yeah right.” Thomas rolled his eyes. “I bet you couldn’t even get a laugh out of her.” 

“Is that a challenge young Thomas? Because that sounds like a challenge.” Newt laughed, he lived for playful banter, especially in a time like this. 

“Yeah, it is.” Thomas agreed, rising to his feet. “I challenge you to a flirt off with Brenda.”

Thao rose to her feet. “How will we know who wins?”

“I think Newt can be the judge of that. Seeing as he’s been judging it already.” Newt sighed, but rose to his feet nonetheless. 

“Poor girl.” Thao smirked and pulled on Newt’s arm with her unbandaged hand to pull herself up. 

“Shall we?” Thomas grabbed Newt’s other arm, and they dragged him towards Brenda.

“Hey beautiful.” Thomas smiled, ruffling his hair once they reached her. Jorge had left by this point, presumably to get more food. 

“Hey Thomas.” Brenda gave him a strange look. 

“How is it, despite the lack of running water, that your hair manages to look so gorgeous?” Thao asked, stepping in front of Brenda, and holding her long hair in her hands. 

“We actually have a little shampoo saved up. I don’t usually offer, but you could share some if you’d like?” Brenda offered, a small smile on her face.

“I’d love to. We could go do that now?” Thao suggested, playing with her own messy hair now.

“You could.” Thomas started, placing his hand on Brenda’s arm. “Or you and I could-”   


A crash exploded from down the hall-- from the stairs they’d used to get to the storage room. It was horribly loud, the crumple and cracking of a structure falling apart, cement breaking and metal ripping apart. A cloud of dust fogged it’s way towards them, choking off the scant light from the food room. Suddenly, Gladers were up and running back towards the destroyed stairs, Minho and Audrey with them. But Newt didn’t have time to follow, the debris falling into the path in front of him and Thao, making them have no choice but to follow Brenda and Thomas as she lead them away from the destruction and deeper into the underground. Farther away from both Minho and Audrey.  _ We’ll find them again, we’ll meet back up with them. Everything will be fine.  _ He really hoped he was right. 


	11. Minho

Everything was a confusing mess as Minho followed Jorge and the other Gladers though the hallways that seemed to branch out in every direction possible. Audrey was right in front of him, and had been for awhile now.    


She had to stay where he could see her, because the second the girl realized Newt and Thao couldn’t reach them, she had nearly had a meltdown right there in the hallway. Luckily he had been able to shut her up and get her to run, before she gave off their location. At least he hoped he had.    


“Is there a way out? The way that was left for the others?” She asked Jorge the minute they stopped running. Minho had no idea where they were, and wasn’t overly thrilled that he had no choice but to trust the guy who’d threatened to cut off his fingers.    


“If their still alive, Brenda will be taking them out through the Underneath. We’ll find them again kid. I made a promise to Brenda I have to keep.” Jorge told them, before the group was up and running again, moving to another building.    


“Where are we going?” Clara asked half an hour or so later, when they had stopped again.    


“The way Brenda will know I’ve gone.” His answer was short, and he continued to lead the group around the city, avoiding Cranks and any of the other people they were with before.    


“Who do you think wanted us blown up?” Minho asked.   


“Berkley. No doubt about it, that guy was more gone than I thought.” Jorge said, and continued to talk, but Minho tuned it out, thinking back to the hallway before everything had blown up and sent everyone into a panic. Thao and Newt were with Tomboy and Brenda, and he was here with Audrey and the rest of the shanks.    


He glanced over at Audrey quickly once he thought of her, making sure she was still doing alright. But instead of seeing her crying and upset like he had expected, she looked pissed.    


“Do you think this is WICKED?” She asked, looking over at him.    


“Do I think what’s WICKED?”    


“Separating us.”    


“Jorge said it was probably the crazy Cranks.”    


“The crazy Cranks that WICKED sends here. What’s to say they can’t control them?” She said, kicking at the sand that had blown in through the shattered window.     


“I don’t shucking know.” He sighed, sliding his back down the wall and sitting down.    


“Minho?” She asked a few minutes later, quieter this time, with a softer tone.    


“Mmmm?” He mumbled, the exhaustion from running earlier catching up with him.    


“How much of our thoughts do you think WICKED actually controls?” She questioned, staring up at the now dark sky. He didn’t know where this was coming from, and wasn’t too sure he was the best person to talk to about it, but Audrey kept talking. “That man, back in the dorms, he said they can control everything. That they had been controlling everything.”    


“Yeah, Rat Man said a lot of stupid shucking stuff that day.” Minho sighed, not seeing this conversation ending anytime soon. She had a point to get to, and no one else to tell it to.    


“But what if they can? What if they can control our thoughts and emotions?”    


“Did you see Gally when he killed Chuck? I think it’s safe to say that they can. But what’s it matter?”    


“Ever since Rat Man said it... “ Audrey started with a sigh, moving to sit down beside him. Most of the other Gladers had moved further in the room, and were almost all asleep, and Jorge was scanning the area out, making sure they hadn’t been followed by any Cranks. “All I can think about is my relationship with Newt. What if it’s not real? I know it’s stupid, especially with everything else that’s going on but it's all I can think about.”  _ Oh shuck, she’s going to cry on me. I’ve never had to deal with Audrey crying without Newt right there to take over.. shuck.  _ He thought as he scooted over beside her. 

“What if we’re together, but it’s because of WICKED? How do I tell if it’s real or just another one of their stupid variables?” She continued, surprisingly still not crying like he expected.     


“What do you mean?” He asked, and she turned to face him now, looking torn.    


“What if I don't… What if I don’t actually _ love _ him?” Audrey asked and it was the first time Minho had actually heard her admit out loud that she loved him. And by the way she’d said it, maybe it was the first time she’d ever said it to someone.    


He wasn’t sure how to respond, so instead he just wrapped his arms around her and let her cry into his shoulder. She cried for a few minutes, letting out everything she had been bottling up since the day they’d left the dorm room.    


“Auds…” He said, using her nickname that Newt had given her. “WICKED might be controlling my mind to use it as a variable, but do you think I care? It doesn’t matter, I still care about Thao. Hell, I still love her. Not all of the variables they give us have to be bad.”    


“You love her? Is that why you let Brenda kiss you earlier, with Thao right there?” Audrey shot back, and Minho sucked in a breath.”Because you love her?”   


“Okay. I probably deserve that.” He mumbled, shaking his head. “But we aren’t like you and Newt. It’s complicated.”    


“Only because you guys make it complicated. You really think anyone would care if you were with her or not? Besides maybe Newt and I, who would be in support of it.”    


“I have to focus on being the leader.”    


“Bull. You’re both just scared.”    


“And you aren’t?” Minho questioned, almost getting angry at her. He knew she was just frustrated and upset. But his comment must have been a little more harsh than he thought, because she was crying again now.    


“Of course I am.” She took another deep breath, and stared at her fingers. “It just makes me wonder, y’know, why WICKED makes some of these variables. What benefit does Newt and I kissing, have to the cure? Who on Earth said ‘Hey, I know how to make a shucking cure! All we have to do is make this kid climb a wall and try to kill himself! It’ll be perfect!’” Audrey laughed bitterly, and Minho felt sorry for her. He hated bringing that up, and to have Audrey do it was just painful. Especially when she brought up the fact that maybe it wasn’t even Newt’s idea to jump.    


“Not all the variables they throw at us can be good either.”    


“No.” She agreed, shaking her head before looking back over at him. “Did you hear Newt when Rat Man told us they could control us? His comment… when he said it… it wasn’t past tense.”    


“I know.” Minho sighed, thinking back to Newt’s comment. “But that doesn’t mean he would actuall--”    


“He might not have a choice in the matter. That’s exactly what worries me.” She said, cutting him off. “He doesn’t have control over himself. None of us do. But what I don’t understand, is why tell us that we don't?”    


“More variables. Different responses from everyone.” Minho shrugged.  _ To drive us crazy worrying about it, just like you’re doing now.  _   


“Maybe it’s the other way around. Maybe he doesn’t lov---like me.” She mumbled a few seconds later, and Minho nearly choked.  _ Yeah, and the sky isn’t blue.  _   


“That’s bull.” He laughed, shaking his head. “If there’s one thing I’m sure of, it's that Newt cares about you. That he loves you. WICKED’s mind control or not, he’d go through hell and back to protect you.”    


Instead of smiling, like he had expected her to, she frowned. “I don’t want him to have to do that.”    


“Audrey, anyone would do that for you.” Minho pointed out, slightly confused as to why she was getting upset.   


“Why?” She asked, looking over at him. “Because I can’t do it myself? Because the stupid tattoo says The Sweetheart and suddenly I can’t take care of myself?” _Oh, that’s why. The shucking tattoo’s that branded everyone._   


“No.” Minho started, “Why? Do you think you can’t?”    


“Maybe. I dunno.” She sighed, moving to sit down. “It’s just, these stupid tattoos are going to be there forever, and I don't want to be defined as The Sweetheart. It makes me feel inferior, and I hate it.”    


“So then don’t let it define you.”    


“How?” She asked and he sat down beside her, stretching a bit. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not really anything close to being a badass.”    


“Says the shank that saved my life after a nasty head wound.” Minho countered.    


“Only to have you go get yourself struck by bloody lighting.” Audrey shook her head, using a certain british boys favorite word.    


“I survived.”    


“Yeah, barely. And Thao’s poor hand... “ She trailed off before looking at the moon. “I wonder how they're doing.”    


“If they're still alive.” Minho muttered.    


“They are. They have to be.” Audrey insisted, moving to lay down and sleep for the night. Minho wondered when the last time she slept alone had been, because she was craddling herself, and curled up in a tiny ball. “And tomorrow, we’re going to find them.” 

“Good that.” 


	12. Thao

Thao didn’t think she’d ever say it, but she was tired of running. Brenda led them deep into the ground, into what appeared to be dried up sewers. Thao couldn’t stop thinking about Minho. It was embarrassing, honestly, but she couldn’t help but think maybe he was dead.

“Reckon they’re dead?” Newt asked quietly as they shimmied down a ladder, leading them deep underground.

“Dunno.” She replied honestly, sweeping her hair out of her face. “Might be.”

“Where are we?” Thomas asked, up ahead. They quickly turned a corner, and came to a dead halt. 

“The Underneath.” Brenda replied, after they had all run into one another. “I know my way around. Enough to know that the place is infested with Cranks way past the Gone.” 

“Great.” Thomas groaned, and they began to walk forward again, going slow. 

“Think this is another variable?” Thao asked Newt, jumping slightly when the sound of dripping water echoed through the tunnel. Thomas was beside Brenda, clearly taking a little pride in the fact he won their competition. Or assumed so, at least.  

“Wouldn’t surprise me. Besides, these groupings can’t be random.” Newt replied, running his hand along the wall.

“Yeah, with depressed one, two, and three, it can’t be a coincidence.” Thao let out a bitter, humorless laugh. “Thomas, however, seems to have perked up slightly since seeing Casey, and the new girl.”

Newt nodded in agreement, stuffing his hands in his pocket, shoulders slumping. Thao looked at him and sighed. She knew that their depressive episodes were just variables, but they were so real, nonetheless. She remembered sitting with him in the Glade, both of them too sad to cry, just staring at the stars. 

Thinking back on it, she realised it had started for both of them at the same time. WICKED must have been trying to test it out on a variety of subjects, Group B included. They had sat down for lunch in the maze, four months after Thao had arrived. It had been quiet as they ate their sandwiches, which was strange for the pair. Newt had broken into tears, spilling all his thoughts and problems at once. As soon as the words reached Thao’s ears, she had realised she felt the same way. 

They planned to keep it a secret, try to suppress it, so as not to bring the other Gladers down, but Newt didn’t hold true to the plan. The day he jumped- Thao shuddered at the vivid memory- everyone had found out. Thao however, kept her pain hidden from everyone but the boy. 

“The fact they split Audrey and I up, and you and Minho, it has to be WICKED.” Newt pointed out, looking around at their surroundings. “This sucks. I need her to be okay.” He kicked violently at a lone rock that lay on the ground. It spun across the floor, ricocheting off the wall. Brenda turned around and glared at him. She turned around again, resting her head on Thomas’s shoulder. 

“That boy is way too flirty.” Thao laughed, shaking her head. She reached out and grabbed Newt’s hand, swinging their clasped hands between them. “I miss talking.”

“Me too.” They reached a large room with many tunnels leading away. Brenda sighed, and slipped off the pack she was carrying, sitting against a wall. The others did the same. 

“Is this like the center of the city?” Thomas asked, gesturing around at the tunnels. 

“Pretty much.” Brenda replied with a nod. “We’ve already made it halfway. We should get there by nightfall.” Thao sighed with relief. Not that she didn’t enjoy the presence of these Shanks, she just needed to see Minho, and Audrey of course. A loud pop echoed off the walls, coming from a tunnel to their right.

“What was that?” Newt gasped, scrambling to his feet and looking around wildly. 

“An old light, probably.” Brenda shrugged, playing with her fingers. “Nothing to worry about. Sit down.” 

It happened again. This time it was louder, closer. Thomas scrambled to his feet, standing beside Newt, fists clenched. It came from behind them, and now the girls were rising to their feet.

“It’s probably nothing, guys.” Brenda assured them, her voice wavering. Thao scoffed, reaching out for Newt’s arm. Brenda shone the light down the path they had come from, revealing nothing but darkness. “See, it’s fine.”

“Should we check it out?” Thomas asked, in nothing more than a whisper. When Brenda didn’t respond, Thao turned to her to find her facing behind them, eyes wide in terror. The other three whipped around to see what she was looking at.  A man was standing about ten feet away, a Crank-y smile plastered to his face.

Thao’s heart was beating out of her chest as she took in the man’s appearance. Sections of his hair were ripped out, leaving bloody scabs all over his skull. Some of his teeth were missing, or chipped. He skin was covered in scabs and scars, like all he’d ever done was get into fights. One of his eyes were missing, a bloody red lump in its place, and his nose- oh god. His nose was gone. 

“Rose took my nose, I suppose.” He spoke, his word out of place and child-like. Thao couldn’t remember being this scared in a long time. Not since that night in the Maze. She reached blindly behind her, grabbing onto the arm of one of the boys. A hand gently rested on her back, just the fingertips, almost like a warning. 

The man took a lunging step forward, his limbs flying as he walked. He looked like a puppet, being controlled by a really bad puppeteer. “Rose took my nose, I suppose.” His voice was ragged and broke, spit flying from his mouth. “And it really blows. Get it?”

“Yeah, I get it.” Brenda tried to laughed, but it almost sounded like a whimper.

“Hilarious.” Thao added, finding her voice. It broke as she spoke the words. Thao felt movement behind her, and felt herself being pulled out of the way, just as Thomas chucked a can at the man. It hit him square in the face, right where his nose should be, and he let out a terrible shriek. 

Newt’s hand fell flat on her back, gripping at her shirt, and she knew why. Other Cranks had started to appear, some behind him, others in different tunnels. Thao wanted to cry, and scream, and run, but she felt her feet rooted to the spot. The thing that scared Thao the most 

was that every single one of these Cranks were missing their nose. 

“You have a pretty nose.” The man said, pointing at Newt’s face. Thao watched as the color drained from his face. “I really want a nose again.” He took another lumbering step, and Thao heard a whimper from one of the boys. “And so do my friends.” He took another step, and so did the others.

“Run!” Thomas shouted. Thao didn’t need to be told twice. They turned and flew down a tunnel that was surprisingly empty of Cranks. Despite being the fastest of the group, she placed herself at the back as they ran, her eyes on Newt the whole time.  _ Keep going. C’mon shank, you can do it. _ He wobbled slightly as his leg hit the ground, but he kept going. 

The Cranks screamed behind them. It iced Thao to the core, and pushed her to run harder. “Go!” She shouted, not daring to look back at the psycho army. Brenda made a quick right, and the other’s followed. The screaming began to fade a bit, and Thao’s heart slowed down to a less dangerous rate. 

Brenda continued to make sharp turns, running just as fast. Thao skidded around a corner and was plunged into darkness. Brenda had switched the light off. “What are you doing?” She called, hoping the footsteps she was following were still Newt’s.

“Can’t see a bloody thing!” Newt called.

“We’re gonna lose you Brenda!” Thomas yelled, not too far in front. Brenda stopped suddenly, causing Thao to crash into Newt, and in turn into Thomas.They all grunted, but Brenda shushed them angrily. They shut up, standing in silence, trying to catch their breaths. Thao could still hear the Cranks, and despite being far away, they were still coming closer to them. 

“Okay,” Brenda whispered, catching Thao off guard. “In here.” She felt a warm hand pull her to the right, through a doorway. “There’s a couple hiding spots in here. Come on.” 

Thao stumbled forward blindly, her hands found someone’s lower back. “Thay?” It was Newt.

“Right here, Shank.” She whispered, grabbing his hand. 

“Right, you two. She felt a hand on her shoulder. “Go in here. It’s a little cubby hole behind a bookcase. Thomas and I will be just over there.” Thao felt a hand pushing her towards the cubby. Newt found it first, with his hand, and pulled her inside. “I’m going to shut this.” Brenda told them, sliding the bookcase back into place. 

Thao had found herself pressed right up against Newt’s chest. She held her hands out, trying to learn the dimension’s of the space. It wasn’t much taller than Newt, she could reach the roof if she stood on her toes. Newt was pressed right up against the back, and Thao was only a few centimeters away from the book case. There was no space to move around. “Cosy.” Thao whispered, pressing her forehead against his chest.

Newt wrapped her arms around her protectively, and she did the same to him. It was silent for a few minutes, and Thao relaxed, her breathing returning to a normal pace. She felt Newt shift underneath her, favouring his good leg. She instinctively reach down and touched it, right where the break had been. He sighed heavily. She knew it had to be burning in pain by this time. 

And then the fear set in again. It started with the giggles, far down the hall. As the Cranks grew closer, the manic giggles got louder, and some of them started screaming. Thao wanted to cry. Thao hoped that the Cranks would never find them here. 

They were close. They were banging on the walls, laughing, screaming, coughing, calling out for them. Thao could feel Newt shaking, and squeezed him tighter. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. Thao thought of Audrey. She wondered if Newt wished it was Audrey he was protecting. She sure as hell wished it was Minho holding her. At least they would know if the others were still alive then. 

Thao heard the footsteps. A Crank had entered the room. The footsteps padded around the floor, and the Crank banged on the walls, and a table. “Little boooooooooooooys.” The Crank taunted, dragging his fingernails over the walls. “Little girrrrrrrrrls. Come out and play. Come out and give us your noses.” It was the man from before, his voice was engraved into her mind. 

“Not in here.” A woman sang, footsteps sounding like she was skipping around the room. “Just this old bookcase.” 

“Maybe there’s a secret door behind it.” The man suggested. The footsteps got closer. “Or maybe.” The footsteps stopped. “They’re under that table.” Thao couldn’t breath. There was nothing they could do, and they had trapped themselves in a space with no place to run. She held her breath.

The Cranks were whispering to each other. Thao couldn’t make out what they were saying, but she had a feeling she wasn’t going to like it. She stood on her toes, her mouth by Newt’s ear. 

“If they open it, get ready to catch me.” She breathed, so quietly she didn’t know if he’d heard it. He gave a slow, short nod. She rocked back down to her heels, getting ready to spring into action at any second. 

“No!” The woman shouted, startling Thao. “No no no no no no no no no!”

“Yes!” The man responded, and Thao thought her heard a jump. “Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!” He positively  _ squealed _ . 

The room quieted, and Thao heard shuffling footsteps getting quieter and quieter. The Cranks had left. They didn’t move. Didn’t say a word. Just listened. 

Several minutes later, when the coast was surely clear, Thao heard a whisper from Brenda. 

“Hello noses!” A voice shouted from the center of the room again. Thao heard Thomas yelp, and light entered their cubbyhole as the shelf was pushed out of the way. 

Thao spun around and felt Newt’s arms grab tightly around her torso. The woman was standing there, looking hideous as ever. Thao didn’t waste a second in lifting off from the ground and kicking the woman with both feet. Hard.

She stumbled back, and Newt let go of Thao, the pair darting out of the cubbyhole. Thao only had a few seconds to take in the scene before her. The man had a death grip on Thomas’s leg, and was pulling him back and forth, clearly trying to smash his face into the wall. Thao also noticed that there were about a dozen flashlights on, illuminating the room.

Then the woman lunged at them again. She shoved Thao as hard as she could, sending her flying to the ground. Thao’s hand screamed in pain, and she clutched at the bandages, tears springing to her eyes. She looked up to see Newt hit the woman across the face, sending her flying into the table. 

Thao scrambled to her feet, seeing stars when she pushed up with her hand. Newt turned to her, checking to see if she was alright. Thao nodded at him, but felt herself scream as the woman jumped onto Newt’s back. 

Newt stumbled forward, and Thao ran to the pair, trying to pull the Crank off. The woman grabbed onto Newt’s hair and started to pull at a chunk. Newt yelled in pain, and tried to back her into a wall. The woman scratched at his face, trying to grab at his nose. She left a long, bloody scratch across his nose and cheek. 

“Thao!” Thao turned to see Brenda climbing out of the cubbyhole under the table. The man had fallen back a few steps, clutching a bloody arm. Brenda held up a shiny, but bloody blade. “Catch!” She threw the knife.  _ The bloody knife. _

Thao surprised herself in catching the blade by the handle, and turned back to Newt. His face had a few more scratches, and there was a chunk of his hair missing. He screamed, trying desperately to fight her off. “Newt watch out!”

She lunged forward, and Newt turned his back to her, giving her full exposure to the Crank. She swung the blade up, and brought it straight down onto the Crank, where her shoulder and neck met, driving it deep into the flesh. 

The woman screamed and let go of Newt. She withered on the ground, blood pouring from her mouth, wound, and the area where her nose should have been. She kept screaming. Thao ran to Newt, steadying him as he tripped forwards, the weight of the woman finally off his back. “Thanks Thay.”

They turned to find Thomas and Brenda wrestling with the man on the ground. He screamed and clawed at them. “Thomas!” She tossed the knife to Thomas who caught it and stared at it. “Stab him!” 

Thomas shook with fear, staring wide eyed at the Crank. Newt and Thao dropped to their knees beside Brenda, and helped hold him down. “Just bloody do it, Tommy!” Newt yelled, wrestling with the man’s arms. Thomas took a deep breath and plunged the blade into the man’s chest.

The room was silent. The woman had stopped screaming and was surely dead. Thomas fell backwards, scrambling as far from the man as he could, staring wide-eyed. Newt collapsed to the side, taking all the weight off his leg. Brenda rummaged in her bag, pulling out bandages. Thao just sat there, unmoving, still holding on to the dead man’s leg. 

Brenda threw a couple of the bandages to each of the kids. “We need to go now. Put those in your packs.” She got to her feet, and Newt and Thao quickly followed. Thomas however, remained perfectly still.

“Move Tommy.” Newt pleaded, hurrying over and pulling Thomas to his feet.

“I killed him.” He sounded like a child, his voice breaking.

“In self-defence shank, we need to move!” Thao argued, pulling at his arm.

“Can we at least get out of here?” Thomas pleaded as they ran from the room.

“Yeah, no more tunnels!” Newt agreed, running beside Thao. Brenda agreed, and led the group higher and higher in the sewers. Eventually they reached a manhole cover, and the boys had to work to get it open. Thao could still hear the Cranks laughing below as they finally climber out into the light. 

Brenda led them down a street, saying something about the mountains. Thao wasn’t really paying attention, but was focused on her own breathing, and Newt’s leg, which seemed to give out more and more with each step.

Once the darkness fell, Brenda called for them to stop. “We need to rest.” She told them, leading them down an alley filled with trucks and cars. They ended up splitting into their pairs, climbing into two side-by-side rusty trucks. 

The truck that Newt and Thao shared already had some old blankets in it. “These are probably filled with disease.” Thao laughed as they wrapped themselves in the blankets, laying side by side.

“Newt?” Thao whispered into the darkness, after a twenty minute silence. She half hoped he was asleep. 

“Yes?”  _ Shuck. _

“I have to tell you something.” She admitted, turning to face him. “Something that only Alby, Minho,, and I know. It was Alby’s idea to keep it a secret.” 

“I’m not going to like this, am I?” Thao shook her head, even though she knew he couldn’t see her.

“Alby didn’t find you.” He took in a sharp breath and she slammed her eyes closed, wondering if she should have kept it to herself. “It doesn’t really make sense that he would. Why would he go into the Maze? That’s a rule.

“I was running six that day, you were in five. Which means I have to go through your section to get to the door.” Not that Newt didn’t already know. “So I was running back, and I came around the corner, and saw you way up on the wall. 

“First thought in my head was  _ there’s a buggin’ griever, _ so I hid around the corner, and didn’t make a sound. When you yelled, I didn’t actually think there was a griever anymore. I think it was the way you screamed, it wasn’t a scared scream.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I would want to know, if it was me.”

Silence.

“Anyways, when I heard you hit the ground, I was kinda jealous. Like ‘Why didn’t I think of that.’ And, y’know, I was considering climbing up there and landing beside you. Would have done it too, if ya hadn’t yelled in pain.

“I ran over to ya, and I know ya don’t remember this, but ya begged me to leave ya there. Naturally, I called you a series of rude names. The biggest problem was me, the five-four girl, carrying your lanky butt back to the Glade.”

Newt sighed loudly. “You should have left me.” 

“I know I should have, you’re a pain in the butt.” She laughed lightly, so did Newt. “Anyways, so I managed to carry you bridal style, about half way. You had passed out by them, after you cussed me out big time. Thanks for that, by the way.”

“Any time.”

“So I couldn’t do it anymore, like sorry man, but I really wished you had eaten one less sandwich that day. So I screamed as loud as I could. Dunno how I thought that could help, but it did. Minho was there within five minutes. By that time i’d started dragging you. 

“He got there and took you from me. We made it back just in time, I could feel the doors close as we ran through them.”

“Thanks for telling me that.”

“No problem shank, I do my best to please.”

“Do you think they’re okay?” His voice was quiet and vulnerable. “Auds and Min?”

“Course they are. Think about who you’re talking about here.”

“I love her.”

“I know shank, I know.”


	13. Audrey

It felt as if a week had passed since Audrey had watched Newt, Thao and Thomas get stuck on the other side of the explosion with Brenda. In reality, it hadn’t even been more than 48 hours since.    


Jorge had woken them up minutes before the sun came up, and had somehow gotten some food for them all. Audrey had happily taken her share, sitting next to Minho as she ate it.    


“Alright, listen up.” Jorge barked, getting everyone’s attention on him. “We aren’t leaving the city until we find Brenda and the other’s. So I say we split up and scout around, try to get eyes on as many places as we can.”    


Everyone nodded in agreement, and Minho looked over at her.    


“You’re with me then, got it?” He said, and Audrey nodded. After their conversation last night, she felt closer to Minho and trusted him more than before. Plus, this way she could ask for tips on how to be a badass.    


“Yeah.” She mumbled back as Jorge went on to explain the plan to everyone. She tried to listen, but all she could think about now was Minho’s reaction to Audrey saying what she had last night.    


“Let’s go!” Jorge called a few seconds later, after everyone had paired up. Audrey got to her feet, and followed Minho out of the broken building, covering up as much skin as she could as they walked out into the burning sun. 

They’d only been walking for about five minutes when Minho stopped a few steps ahead of her. At first she thought maybe it was Cranks. But then, she reached him and saw exactly what it was he was staring at. 

**THOMAS, YOU’RE THE REAL LEADER**

“Guess the tattoo’s aren’t suppose to define us as much as you thought.” He mumbled. Audrey stared at the sign for a few seconds, before gently tugging down Minho’s collar to look at his tattoo. She already knew what it said, but she was more interested in the lettering.    


“How’d they get these up overnight? That wasn’t there yesterday and we’ve been in the building all night.” She sighed.    


“The same way they played with us back in the dorms. C’mon, let’s keep going.” Minho grunted, and then he took off walking again. She couldn’t tell if he was upset or just being grumpy like normal, so she followed behind him silently. 

The first hour of their scouting adventures seemed to go on forever, neither one saying much to the other. Audrey knew it was because anything they said would lead them back to last night’s conversation. And neither of them wanted to talk about it, at least not right now anyways.    


But then, finally Minho spoke.    


“If they got out, they’ve probably seen these signs plastered up everywhere.” They’d seen at least four of them now, and each one slowly started to piss Audrey off some more. She felt like each one was a punch in the gut for Minho, taunting him, making him believe he wasn’t fit to lead. But he was.    


“Probably.” She agreed. “Probably also not too pleased with them either.”    


“Who said anything about not being pleased with them?” Minho got defensive. _Shuck._   


“I did. Because I’m not. What does that mean? That they permanently tattooed us for nothing? I’d rather not have ‘Property of WICKED’ inked on me.” 

“Me either.”    


“It’s almost time to meet back at the rendezvous spot.” And then they headed back, checking in with everyone else and having a snack. No one had seen anything much, but Jorge had somehow scored a few knifes and swords. _Finally, real protection against Cranks. Not just condoms._   


This time, the scouting wasn’t quite as quiet as the first time. Audrey had taken an sword from the pile Jorge presented them with, but she didn’t know exactly how to use one. Thankfully, Minho was willing to teach her all he knew.    


So far, they had covered the basics. She finally knew how to swing at the air without falling forwards with the weight of the blade.    


“You’re picking this up pretty quick.” Minho told her from his spot behind her, as he watched her slash at nothing. “Now try switching hands mid air. See if you can catch it.”    


So she tried, lightly tossing the blade at her other hand. But it didn’t go according to plan, and she ended up trying to catch it with both hands, causing her to cut her hand a bit, right down the middle. She hissed, quickly dropping the sword and clamping her hand shut.    


“Guess I didn’t pick it up that quick.”    


“Shuck. Are you okay?”    


“Yeah, it’s not that bad. I’ll just wrap it up and we’ll be good.”    


“Good until Newt learns you hurt it throwing a sword around because I said so.” Minho huffed. “What are you going to wrap it with?”    


Audrey didn’t answer right away, just slowly knelt down next to the sword and used her clamped hand to pull the bottom of her shirt away from her, cutting it off with the sword. “This, for now.”    


“And when your shirt starts falling to shreds on you?”    


“I’m hoping someone will be a gentleman and give me his.” Audrey shrugged, unconcerned about it for now. Minho shaked his head with a smile, the first one Audrey had seen since Thao and Newt were separated from them.    


A few minutes later, they were back to practicing their sword skills. Audrey picked up everything else Minho taught her pretty quickly, and soon she was swinging at the walls instead of just the air.    


“Is this supposed to feel good? Thrashing a weapon around like this?” Audrey asked around an hour later, as they headed towards the next building they were suppose to check out.    


“Probably not. But it does feel good.” Minho agreed. “As long as you aren’t getting hit by it.”    


“Yeah, I’d imagine that wouldn’t feel quite as nice.” Audrey laughed a little, sighing as they cleared another building of any sign of people. “This is stupid. What if they headed to that place  WICKED said we had to go to get the cure, thinking that's where we’d go?”    


“They wouldn’t. Because we didn’t. Thao and Newt wouldn’t want to leave the city without us, just like we aren’t leaving without them.”    


“How are we supposed to find them in this mess?” Audrey sighed, knowing Minho was right. Their friends wouldn’t leave without them. Not unless they had to. “Or if they got chased out by Cranks?”    


“I’m a Crank.” Someone croaked from an abandoned car to their right, and they both jumped, pulling out their weapons. Minho had two knives, and Audrey had her sword. Inside was a middle aged woman, hair chucks pulled out on the blanket she was covered in. She had the crazed look in her eyes, and Audrey turned to Minho.    


“What do we do?” She whispered. This lady wasn’t posing a threat to them, right now anyways. She was laying there, looking exhausted.    


“Aren’t you Cranks?” the woman spoke again, still not making an effort to move. She seemed to be the only one, there wasn’t any reason to harm her.    


“What if she’s not alone for long?” Minho whispered back.    


“She’s crazy.”    


“Exactly.” Minho said, moving closer with his knives at the ready.    


“She isn’t doing anything. Let’s just keep going. We don’t have to hurt her.”    


“We’d be doing her a favour. She’s only going to get more crazy.” Minho pointed out, but Audrey grabbed the back of his shirt and shook her head.    


“No. We shouldn’t waste energy on people who aren’t doing anything. Let’s just get back to Jorge and the others. It’s time for us to check in.” Thankfully, Minho didn’t argue, and they left  the crazy lady in the car.    


“There you shanks are!” Jeff called out when they made their way towards the group. “What happened to your hand?”    


“I caught a sword with it. I’m fine, treated it myself. What’s up?”    


“Frypan saw them!”    


“What? Where are they?”    


“That’s the bad news. Frypan saw them with some Cranks, who pulled some guns on them before taking them.”    


“We have to go get them!”    


“We will.” Jorge said, a serious expression on his face. “But not yet, they were taking into a Crank party. We’ll wait until nightfall. Then we’ll get them back.”


	14. Newt

“What the shuck does that mean?” The sharp voice woke Newt from his sleep. He was so pleasantly rested, warm beneath the blankets, that he didn’t immediately jump to his feet. The voice had sounded vaguely familiar anyways.

“I don’t know, Thomas, maybe it’s some secret code, hmm?” Newt really didn’t want to get up. His eyelids felt heavy, and his leg was barely aching. It would have been so peacefully if those shanks weren’t arguing. He sighed and sat up, rubbing at his eyes lazily. He looked out the back window of the truck to find the other three staring at a metal plaque on the alley wall.

“This better be bloody good.” He muttered to himself, throwing the blankets off and climbing out of the truck. “What the shuckin’ shuck are you three on about?” Newt asked, hobbling over to them. His leg wasn’t sore, but it sure was stiff.

Thao looked back at him. Her hair was a downright mess, but it suited her so well. She looked annoyed, and move out of the way so that Newt could read the plaque.

**THOMAS, YOU’RE THE REAL LEADER**

“Well then.” Newt stated, looking between the three of them. Thao still had the same annoyed expression on her face.  _ Probably because Min is supposed to be the leader. _ Thomas looked angry, shocked, and confused all at once.  _ That may just be his permanent expression. The ‘Thomas Face.’ _ Brenda, on the other hand, looked completely unfazed. Newt guessed this plaque wasn’t a new installment. 

“They’re all over the city.” Brenda explained, as if she could read Newt’s mind. “We should get moving if we want to meet up with the others.” Newt nodded, walking back to the truck to grab his pack. He took Thao’s as well, and grabbed a couple of the blankets from the truck. He walked back to the other’s and handed Thao her things.

“Thanks Shank.”

“Anytime Slinthead.” Once they had everything secured and ready to go, they set off towards the main road again. They walked for about an hour, and by that time, the sun had risen and the sky was a pale blue color. They told Brenda about Group B, and Casey. Thomas talked about his tattoo, and then they mentioned the rest of theirs. Brenda told them about the city, and about life as a Crank. They spoke like old friends. 

Brenda decided that it might be better to take a few shortcuts through the alleyways in order to cut time, and shake off any Cranks. Newt couldn’t agree more. He was not in the mood to be running from anymore of those buggin’ creatures. 

They turned down a brick alley, and Newt could hear the sound of someone banging on a drum. _Shukin’ Cranks. I bloody hate them._ _They’re disgusting._ The drumming got louder as they walked further down the alley. 

They reached a large crack in the wall, with a few broken stairs behind it, leading to darkness. The drumming had now turned into a steady beat, actual music coming from the darkness behind the crack. “Look’s like the Cranks still know how to have a good time.” Thomas whispered next to him, making sure Brenda couldn’t hear.

“They buggin’ creep me out. I don’t want to end up like that.” Newt whispered back, shuddering at the idea. Thomas made a noise of agreement, before turning away from the crack.

“Let’s get outta here.” They turned around and found themselves face to face with three Cranks. They didn’t look like they were past the Gone, however, so Newt wasn’t nearly as scared as he could have been. 

“Hey there. Come to join the party?” The woman asked. She had long red hair pulled back into a ponytail. “Lots of dancin’, lovin’, and a ton of booze.” Her tone was mocking, and Newt hated it.

“No thanks.” Thomas said, trying to make up some quick excuse to get them out. 

“You see,” One of the men started, glaring at Thomas. He had long greasy hair, and a creepy looking moustache. “This is WICKED’s very own Crankland. Don’t worry though, most of ‘em aren’t half gone.” Greaseball gestured to the crack with a shrug.

“Yeah,” Ginger agreed, stepping closer to them.

“You might take an elbow to the face. Or get kicked in the ‘nads, but you won’t get eaten.” The third man said. He had a handsome face with sharp features. Newt wondered if he had been a model before the Flare got him. 

“Nads?” Brenda asked, clearly offended.

“I was talking to the boys.” Model rolled his eyes. “You females might have to stick closer to us guys. Might get a bit rough down there for you.”

Thao shot forward, getting in Model’s face, and looked absolutely terrifying. “You think we need your protection or something?” She lunged forward slightly, causing him to stumble back a bit. “Or are you just trying to get in our pants? Think you’re ‘bout to get lucky huh?” 

“You got the Flare too then, huh? I can see it in your eyes.” Model laughed, pushing her away. She let herself stumble back to Newt, clearly caught off guard by the Crank comment.

“We gotta go. It sounds like fun, but we have to find our friends.” Thomas said, trying to pull Newt away from the Cranks. 

“You ain’t nothin’ but kids.” Greaseball told them, taking a step forward. “You’d better come in and live a little. You’re officially invited to the party.” There was no emotion from these Cranks, and it made Newt’s brain do strange things.

“Thanks, but we should go.” He muttered, trying his best to look for a way out of the situation. The three Cranks moved quickly, and all at once. Model pulled out a gun. Ginger, a screwdriver. Greaseball, a knife covered in dried blood. 

“You do not just turn down an offer like that.” Ginger gave a crank-y smiled, stepping forward with her screwdriver aimed at Newt. “Nice accent Pretty-Boy. I’m sure the boys in there will like it even more.”

“So what do you say?” Greaseball asked, flipping his knife in his hand. “Will you come to our party?”

“Okay.” Thomas agreed quickly, before any of the others had time to get a word in. 

“What?” Brenda looked shocked.

“Well, think about it Brenda. He’s got a knife, he’s got a gun, and she’s got a shuck screwdriver!” Thomas argued, pointing to each of the weapons in turn. 

“Yeah, Thomas is right. I don’t plan on having a buggin’ bullet in my brain anytime soon.” Newt agreed, cautiously looking at the Cranks.

“Wonderful!” Ginger clapped her hands together, skipping towards the crack. “Let’s go have some fun!” Newt glanced at Thao, hopping she had figured a way out of this, but she looked just as lost as he felt. Thomas started towards the crack, but Ginger held her hand out.

“Not so fast.” Model snarled, putting a firm hand on Newt’s shoulder. “There is a price of admission.” He reached into his makeshift coat, pulling out two bottles of a green-blue liquid. 

“First you threaten us with guns, and now you’re druggin’ us?” Thao asked in disbelief. Newt elbowed her in the ribs. 

“Shut up.” He whispered, watching Brenda take a bottle from Model. He took the other one, popping the lid off. The liquid seemed to sparkle, and Newt couldn’t believe how bad of an idea this was, but he saw no other option. He shakily raised the bottle to his lips, grimacing at the dirt that was caked onto it. 

“Half of it.” Greaseball insisted, a dirty, crank-y smile appearing on his crooked mouth. “Or else.” He snarled, shaking his knife in Newt’s face. 

Newt took a deep breath and tilted his head back, allowing the shimmery liquid to spill onto his tongue. The second it hit his tastebuds, he wanted to throw up. It was unbelievably bitter, and tasted like vomit. 

He spluttered slightly, trying not to spit the liquid out. Clenching his eyes shut, he was able to polish off just over half of the bottle without actually throwing up. He pulled it away from his mouth and shoved it against Thao’s chest. 

She gave him a fleeting look, before raising the bottle to her own lips, downing the rest of the liquid. She threw the glass onto the ground, spluttering and coughing as soon as she had finished. “C’mon now, that was a pretty clean bottle. Why’d ya go and break that?” Model complained, kicking at the glass. 

“Whatever, let’s get you kids inside, follow me.” Ginger snapped, pulling harshly on Thomas’s arm, dragging him through the crack. The others stumbled after them. 

Newt’s head was spinning as they walked through the darkness, the music getting extraordinarily louder. He stumbled forward slightly, smacking against Thao. She tripped, and steadied herself against the wall, looking completely out of it.

“Keep moving!” Greaseball shouted from behind, making Newt jump in surprise. He pressed them forward, and they fell out of the darkness and into a dimly lit room. Newt was immediately blinded by one of the few lights spinning on the roof, creating a psychedelic aura. 

“I’ll go get you kids another drink.” Model announced, slipping away into the huge crowd of grinding bodies. The dancing was equally rhythmic and sporadic as the bodies moved together together to the loud music. Newt could feel his body trying to fall into the crowd and join the other people, but he tried to fight the movement off. 

A hand slipped into his and he looked up to see Brenda tugging him towards the swarming bodies. He looked back at Thao and Thomas as he stumbled forward. The pair had also begun to migrate towards the crowd, like a magnetic force was pulling them. 

The bodies pressed around him, moving to the beat, and Newt found his body moving in time. Brenda pulled him close, spinning around so that her back was against his chest. Together they started moving in time with the crowd. 

Between the lights, and the pounding music, Newt felt like he was on another planet. His whole body felt like he was floating, the sensation euphoric. “We need to leave.” He muttered into Brenda’s ear, but he wasn’t sure it even came out as words. He felt his hands grasp Brenda’s hips as an image of Audrey popped into his mind. “We have to find our friends.” 

He took a step backwards, and away from Brenda, but he only backed into someone else. “I got you another drink.” A husky voice whispered against his ear, making him shiver. He turned to find Greaseball with a red drink in his hand. It looked like it was on fire. He took it unquestioningly, downing it in one go. He looked back at Greaseball. 

His head appeared to be stretching, mouth a gaping hole as he laughed. Newt stumbled back, away from the Crank, knocking into several others. He spun quickly, or maybe it was just the room, and tried to find Thao. He spotted her only a few feet away, a glass of green liquid pressed to her mouth. He made his way over to her.

“Thay,” He groaned, grabbing her shoulders and turning her to face him. She looked completely out of it, and beyond terrified.”Thay we gotta get out.”

“I know.” She stumbled forward, or maybe it was backwards. Newt couldn’t tell distances anymore. He felt bodies pressed to his, but some of them looked ten feet away, while others looked too close to make them out. “What do we-” She hiccuped. “What do we do, Newtie boy?”

He tried to too look at her, but her face swam in and out of his vision. He felt himself falling forward, and felt a pair of arms wrap around him.  _ I hope that’s Thao. _ He straightened himself up, looking around the room.

In the distance, or maybe in very close proximity, Thomas and Brenda were pressed together, swaying with the music. “Are they kissing?” He asked Thao, not really knowing, or caring if the words were coming out of his mouth or not. They pair looked happy, caught up in their own world. If they could forget their worries, why couldn’t Newt.

“Guess so.” He heard Thao’s distorted voice say. It felt very close to his ear, much louder than it should have been. 

“Looks fun.” Newt commented. The music changed, it was less hypnotic now, and more upbeat. Newt swayed his hips in time with the beat.  _ I like this. _ His brain told him. Another drink was pushed into his hand. It looked yellow. He downed it quickly, wanting more.

“This is fun.” Thao told him, her voice sounded tired.  _ I feel so alive. _ “Guess this is what they meant by ‘live a little,’ hey?” He nodded. The room was spinning faster, the lights blinding him again and again. He felt a pair of bodies pressed to his sides, and his grip slipped off Thao. Lips were pressed to his neck, and the bodies move in time with him and the music. 

The room spun faster, faster, faster. The lights started to burn less, the room going darker. Newt was vaguely aware of the rough hands pulling on his shoulders, and the bodies slipping away, before he succumbed to the darkness.

\--------

Panic. Pain and panic. His head was  _ pounding _ . It felt a million time worse than waking up after drinking Gally’s Juice. He heard a loud groan next to him, and more pain rippled through his skull. He tried to grab his head, but he found his hands bound to the chair he was sitting on.

His legs were bound as well, preventing any sort of movement from the boy. He tried to pull at the bindings with his legs, but all he got out of that was white hot pain shooting through his bad leg. “Ah.” He gasped, letting his head fall forward.

“Guys?” Thomas’s voice hit his head like a sledgehammer, sending waves of pain through his head. 

“Yeah, right here Tomboy.” Thao was directly to Newt’s left, her voice tired and broken.

“Shuck.” Newt swore, trying to pull at the bindings again. The door swung open suddenly, letting in blinding light. It bore into his eyes, reminding him of when they first entered the Scorch. He groaned again, trying desperately to let his eyes adjust. 

Four people entered the room. Ginger, Model, Greaseball, and one other. He was a huge, burly man, with tattoos and piercings covering every inch of his skin. He looked directly at Newt and smiled. Newt gulped. 

They separated, each one walking in front of one of his friends. Ginger took to Thomas. Model, to Thao, and Greaseball to Brenda. That left Newt with Tattoos. He walked over to Newt, putting his hands on Newt’s wrists, and leaning forward, his face close to Newt’s.  _ He has terrible breath.  _

“I like this one.” Tattoos snarled, his breath hitting Newt’s face again, stronger this time. “Bet he scares easy.” The man shot forward slightly, and Newt flinched back, slamming his eyes closed. The Cranks started laughing, and Newt cursed himself for being so stupid. 

“Who are you?” Ginger asked Thomas. Newt really hoped Thomas would make up some sort of lie. His name was plastered all around the city after all.

“Chuck.” Thomas spat, without hesitation. “My name’s Chuck.” Ginger giggled lightly, and then Newt heard the sound of flesh hitting flesh. Thomas gasped.

“What’s your name then?” Tattoos asked, his breath making Newt want to throw up. 

“Ben.” He muttered, trying not to breathe in the scent. Tattoos flashed a Crank-y smile, and kicked Newt in the leg. His bad leg. Hard. He screamed. “One of you boys is Thomas, and you better tell me now.” Tattoos threatened.

“It’s me!” Thomas gasped. “I’m Thomas!” He was breathing hard enough for Newt to hear. 

“That’s more like it.” Ginger cooed. Newt shuddered at the sickly sweet sound that left her mouth. “Now Thomas. Why don’t you tell us why your name is all over this city?” 

“I-i don’t kn-” Thomas stuttered, looking panicked. Tattoos’ foot collided with Newt’s leg again. He screamed louder this time, tears spring to his eyes. Somewhere high above, Newt could hear footsteps.

“Don’t lie to me!” Ginger screeched.

“I’m not! I swear I don’t know.” This time it was Thao’s turn. Model did  _ something _ to her hand that had her screaming for mercy. Newt heard yelling from above.

“Alright!” Thomas yelled. “Alright, I’ll tell you all I know.” Nothing happened. The Cranks seemed to be waiting for Thomas to continue. Newt sighed in relief. 

“We aren’t actually Cranks. We came through a-” The yelling and screaming upstairs intensified, and the Cranks glanced between themselves. 

“What’s that?” Greaseball asked, walking towards the door.

“Let’s go check it out.” Model suggested. The other two followed, and the four Cranks disappeared through the door and up a flight of stairs.

They breathed heavily, gasping for air. He could hear Thao’s whimpers, and he was immediately reminded of the pain in his leg.

“How are we going to get out of here?” Brenda asked. A loud, ear piercing scream reach their ears and the froze, holding their breaths. Loud, thunderous footsteps started coming quickly down the stairs. Newt’s heart was beating incredibly fast. 

Someone burst through the door, blood and dirt splattered all over their face. Two long, bloody knives were grasped in their hands.

“You guys look comfy.” Minho said, gasping for air a little bit. Thao let out a small whimper, and his face paled. “Oh god, Thay?” He ran to her, dropping the knives and grasping her face in both hands. “What happened to you guys?”


	15. Minho

“What…. how... “ Thomas stammered from his chair, but Minho didn’t really care. He wasn’t exactly focused on anything other than Thao right now. That is, until footsteps sounded down the stairs again, softer now.    


“Minho?” Audrey’s voice came from right outside the door, before she pushed it open to find them. “You were suppose to tell me when you’d found them.” She scowled, before lowering the Sword she had and rushing over to where Newt was.    


“What happened?” Minho asked again, turning away from the other two and focusing on Thao as he let her out.    


“How’d you find us?” She asked back, bringing her injured hand to her chest the second her hands were free.    


“We just found you. We weren’t about to let these shuck-faces do anything to you. Frypan spotted you guys and we waited til after the party. Every Crank in here is either passed out or too high to care we’re here.”     


“Oh, man.” Thomas groaned as soon as he stood up, once Audrey had set him free. “Anybody got some aspirin?”    


Nearly everyone laughed, except Brenda. Wonder what happened there?    


“Okay, c’mon. We have to get up to the others as fast as we can.” Thao pushed herself off chair, cradling her hand. She took a shaky breath and held out her good hand. 

“Knife.” She demanded. Minho handed her one, eyeing her wearily.

“You gonna be okay shank?”

“Let’s just go.” They started making their way to the door, when they heard a clatter behind them. They spun around, weapons raised, only to find the noise had come from Newt. His chair had been knocked over, and he was laying on his side, clutching his leg.

“What happened to you guys?” Minho asked, flabbergasted. He ran to Newt’s side, Thomas hot on his tail. They pulled the boy to his feet. 

“We- I’ll tell ya Shanks once we get out of here.” Newt snapped. Together they made their way out of the room and up the stairs. When they got to the room upstairs, Minho was hit with the strong smell of vomit.

“Thomas!”

“Newt! Thao!”

“You Shanks are alive!” The Gladers smiled from their posts around the prisoners. Audrey led them out onto the street, and Minho let go of Newt, so that he could balance against the wall. The rest of the Gladers filed out of the crack, leaving their prisoners behind.

“All right you lot. We need to head out again, we’ve fallen behind.” Minho explained, taking his leader role.  _ Don’t care what those shuck signs say, I’m the leader _ . “We need to make a run for it. There’s only about a mile left, these Cranks aren’t so hard to fight off after all. So let’s----”    


“Hey!”    


The shout came from way behind them, loud and screechy, filled with more than a hint of lunacy. And they Crank had a gun, pointed straight at Thomas, who was conveniently the last person on the stair case. Before Minho had a chance to move, the guy fired, an explosion that rocked the alley with a thunderous boom.    


Thomas spun around and fell smack on his face, and the Crank with the gun kept shooting. Minho was back over by Thomas seconds later, tackling the Crank to the ground and started beating the living crap out of him. 

“He shot me.” Thomas said, and Minho only stopped once he was sure the Crank was out cold, possibly even dead. Newt and Audrey were leaning over him, Audrey pressing down on the wound with someone’s shirt.    


“I can get that sucker out of him.” Jorge said, looking over at Minho. “But I need a fire.”    


“We can’t do this here.” Audrey mumbled, looking back down at Thomas with a forced smile. “You’re going to be fine, okay?”    


“Let’s get out of this shuck city.” Minho agreed, nodding over at Jorge before scanning the crowd for Thao. That Crank had shot more than once, and he hadn’t remembered to seek her out before beating the guy up. But she was there, at the head of the group, waiting for everyone to get ready to go.    


“Let’s carry him.” Frypan suggested, walking over to him with Minho, Clint, and Jeff. Together they lifted the boy. Minho remembered Newt, and quickly turned back to see him leaning on Thao, hopping along behind them. Minho saw Audrey look back as well, looking as if she wanted to go help, but he knew she hand to keep the pressure on the wound.

Minho looked at Thomas to see he had passed out from the pain. “C’mon Tomboy, you’re gonna be just fine.” Minho murmured, unaware if the others could hear him or not. 

They walked for about half an hour, before they finally exited the city. Minho longed for the sheets they had, as the sun beat down on them. He longed for water and food, and medical supplies to help Thomas and-.

He looked back again, to see Newt and Thao a little ways back. Newt had now started to put some weight on his foot, but they were making slow process. “Aris, Jackson!” He called out to the remaining boys, who were only a few paces ahead of them. “Go back and help those shanks, will ya?” 

Thomas stirred, letting out a small whimper. There was a lot of blood on his shirt. “Tomboy, c’mon kid, stay awake for me buddy.” Thomas passed out again. 

They walked for another twenty minutes before Jorge called for them to stop. “Lay him down here. We’ll wait for the others to catch up.”    


“We really have to treat this soon.” Audrey mumbled, still keeping the pressure on Thomas’s shoulder as he lay on the ground. “He’s losing a lot of blood, and it’s going to get infected.”    


So they built a fire, and let Jorge, Audrey, Clint and Jeff take over. When Thao and Newt caught up, they moved to sit down a few feet away from the boy.    


“Okay. What happened to you shanks?” Minho asked for the third time, hoping maybe now he’d get some answers.    


But before anyone could answer, Thomas screamed as Audrey pressed a hot blade to his shoulder while looking away, Jeff, Clint and Jorge all holding Thomas still. No one said anything again until Thomas was passed out and Audrey joined the group again. She sat beside Newt, and let out a sigh.    


“I don’t know if we patched it up good enough. And even if we did… there's no way it won’t get infected.” Audrey sighed, pushing her hair away from her face. The long blonde strand fell forward again, and she looked at it, annoyed. Newt reached up to push it way. 

“How’s your hand?” Minho asked, sitting down beside Thao. She shrugged, staring at the blood soaked bandages.

“I’m assuming WICKED’s gonna cut it off or something.” She shrugged again. “At least I’m a lefty.” 

“You wanna tell me what happened?” Minho asked, sitting cross legged right in front of her, so their knees were pressed together. “I was shuckin’ worried about you three shanks.” 

“Four. You have a thing for Brenda.”

“Oh shuck, sorry Thay, forgot to count you there.” He said with a wink. “But seriously, what went down? You guys look like you’ve seen ghosts.”

“Worse.” She sighed, looking up at him through her eyelashes. “We went to the Underneath.”

“That’s where Jorge said you’d go. What’s down there?” He was intrigued.

“Bunch of Cranks way past the gone. It was horrifying. They looked like Winston after the mental ball, and the lightning.” She shuddered. “There was this one Cranks, their leader or something, kept saying ‘Rose took my nose, I suppose. It really blows.’”

“What? WHat does that even mean?” Minho was confused, the Cranks were nuts.

“None of the Cranks had noses, Min. They chased us down and tried to steal ours. That’s why Tomboy’s nose is all crooked and bloodied up. And why Newtie boy’s missin’ a chunk o’ hair.”

“Shuck...”

“We got away, obviously, noses still attached. Camped out for the night in the back of some trucks. Started walking, heard some drum beats. Bunch of Cranks found us, threatened us with a shuck screwdriver, and then drugged us. It’s all really weird after that.”

“What’s wrong with Newt’s leg?”

“They were buggin’ torturing us when you showed up. Tryin’ to get info outta Tomboy.”    


\--------- 

Somehow Thomas made it through the night, and although he seemed to be in massive pain, he was doing okay. Other than the infection Audrey had predicted.    


“We don’t have what we need to help him. I don’t know what to do.” She wiped at her cheeks as she told everyone for the fifth time that this was all they could do.    


“You’re doing the best ya can, it’s okay.”    


“We need to find some more food, and figure out what our next move is.” Minho shook his head and looked over at Thomas. _The poor shank is suffering, and there isn't anything we can do._   


“How long until Thomas can move?”    


“He can’t. Not like that. Either we build some kind of stretcher for him, or stay here with him.” Audrey pointed out, leaving out one of the possibilities.    


“For now, let’s build up a makeshift shelter and gather some food. Someone’ll stay here with Tomboy while the rest of us go out in teams. Brenda, Clint and Jeff you good to stay here?”    
The three nodded, and Audrey almost seemed to sigh in relief. She hadn’t left Thomas or Newt alone all night, and she needed a break.  _ Overworking herself like always.  _ _   
_

“Newt, are ya good enough to come with us?”    


“Yeah, course.”    


“Newt.” Audrey mumbled, making sure he wasn’t lying.    


“I’m fine. Night’s rest was all I needed.”    


“Thao, what about your hand?” Audrey asked, not that her hand would slow her down too much. 

“My hand doesn’t affect my walking, ya shank.” She laughed, and Minho smiled slightly.

“I was thinking I could re-bandage it.” Audrey suggested with a shrug as they four of them began walking towards nearby sand dunes. 

“With what?” She had a point. “Besides, air exposure out here will probably just get it infected.” Minho glanced down at the bandage on her hand.

“How bad was it, when you put the bandage on?” He asked Audrey. She shrugged.

“At the time I thought it was fine, but it was pretty mangled.” 

“That’s just peachy. Why don’t we cut it off then?” Thao suggested, kicking at some sand. No one said anything, but Newt let out a small snort. Minho looked over at him, watching his leg movement. It seemed to be fine, probably just bruised. 

“I feel like the four of us haven’t been alone in years.” Audrey sighed, slipping her hand into Newt’s. 

“You don’t even have a year’s memory.” Thao reminded her.

“That’s true. But I don’t think we’ve had this since we celebrated you two shuck-faces surviving the maze.” Minho thought back. He remembered small moments with each of them since then, but he couldn’t remember it just being  _ them _ . 

“I shuckin’ hate WICKED.”

“Once we get the bloody hell outta here, let’s find a big shuck house to live in.” Newt told them, his voice confident like he was already imagining it. 

“It’ll have ten bedrooms!” Thao added.

“And a swimming pool!” Audrey chimed in, imagining their life. “And Thomas and Casey can come too.”

“And we can have baby Newts running around!” Minho laughed. “Twin Newts!”

“Yeah, and a shuck-ton of baby Tomboys.” Thao agreed, throwing her head back with laughter.

“What about some adorable little Thao’s? You can’t make Newt have to suffer through twins and get away without any of your own!” Audrey shook her head, a huge smile on her face.    


“No baby versions of Minho?”    


“God no. One is enough.” Audrey teased. “Besides, if there’s going to be a shuck-ton of little Thomas’s and twin little Newts, they need some little Thao to fight over.”    


“Just one? They give us twins and you let them off with one little girl? What about our other twin?”    


“Maybe he’s gay and in love with a little Thomas.” Audrey shrugged. “Let him be who he wants to be!”    


The group continued to joke as they made it back to town, glad to have the time alone with each other.  _ Everything is always better when it’s the four of us _ .   


“Hey,” Audrey stopped a little while later. “Are we on food duty or the scraps for a shelter?”    


“Frypan and whoever went with him were in charge of the shelter. Jorge said he knew where some stuff was.”    


“Should we find sheets or blankets again? Protect ourselves some more? These sunburns are going to be pretty bad soon.”    


“If we see ‘em.” Minho decided, not wanting to waste the extra time looking if they didn't have to.    


“How many days do we have left of this Phase?”    


“Six or seven I think.” Minho huffed. “Made us suffer through the Maze for two years, but only give us two shucking weeks out here.” 

“We gotta get movin’ soon.” Thao sighed, kicking at a nearby piece of rock.

“What are we gonna do about Tommy?” Newt muttered, looking in an empty trash can. “Oh god.” He stumbled back, hand over his mouth. “I think I found where Rose put all the noses.” 

“That’s gross.” Thao shook her head.  _ Why’s she look so hot right now? Maybe it’s cos I haven't seen her in forever. _ They walked a little while longer, finding a few blankets, and bits of clothes. 

“I think i’d rather have a little Minho, than a little Thao.” He admitted.

“I think i’d rather not have either.” Thao looked at him sharply, almost like a warning.

“Why not?” Audrey asked, stopping suddenly.

“It’s not like WICKED is ever gonna go away, even if we do escape.” Thao explained, checking the trunk of an old rusty car. “Bingo.” She pulled out a few granola bars. “Only look about ten years old. But like, why would I bring kids into a shucked up world like this?”

“We won’t be running from WICKED for the rest of our lives, Thao.” Audrey argued, taking the granola bars from her and packing them away.

“Depends how long the rest of our lives are.” Minho pointed out, placing his hand on the small of Thao’s back. She took a step away. His brain yelled at him to follow her, but he ignored the demand.

“Minho, that’s an awful thing to say.” Audrey gasped, furrowing her eyebrows.

“It’s true.” Newt shrugged.

“Okay, no. I refuse to have you three all talk like that.” Audrey huffed, shaking her head. “We are getting away from WICKED, to somewhere there isn’t Grievers or Cranks or anything else that's terrifying and we’re going to be happy. It might take a while, and will probably be a lot worse before then, but I don’t care. We aren’t spending the rest of our long lives trapped under WICKED’s control. Got it?” By the time she was finished her rant, she looked angry, and Minho figured that it was probably a way for her to cope. Imagine a life once this was all over and done with, where everyone was still alive and happy.    


“That stupid house we we’re joking about, that better happen. Alright?” She mumbled again a few seconds later, when no one said anything. “And it better have all six of us there.” 

No one seemed sure of what to say in response, because whatever they said would either make her upset, or be a lie. There wasn’t going to be a house with ten rooms, and a swimming pool and there certainly wasn’t going to be any little Newts or Thomas’s running around.     


“We should keep looking around. A few granola bars isn’t going to be enough for all of us.” Newt said, pulling Audrey to his side and kissing her forehead. Because that’s all he could do.    


“Right ya are.”   


“Let’s check the next few cars.” Thao agreed, moving forward to lead the other three. Minho followed slightly behind her, unsure if he should be up next to her or give her space. “I think i’m scared of that happening.” She whispered as he ducked into the trunk of the SUV beside her.

“What, a normal life?” Minho scoffed, trying to lift up the floor of the trunk.

“Yeah, I guess. Like I don’t know how to do... that.” She helped him lift it, revealing half a dozen cans of food. She smiled, scooping them into her arms.

“You gotta learn everything at some point. I mean, you had to learn how to kiss, but now you’re pretty good at that.” He smirked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, well I had a pretty good teacher.” She scoffed, balancing the cans in her arms. “How was kissing Brenda, by the way? Looked like you were enjoying yourself. Or at least your pants did.”

“Staring at my bits while I make out with other girls? That’s a tad clingy, don’t ya think.” 

“Woah, that was not the part of the conversation I wanted to hear.” Audrey laughed, walking over and opening the pack for Thao to put the cans into. “C’mon, let's keep going.” She quickly closed the pack up and swung it on her back before walking back to the other car that Newt had already started on.    


“She always overhears the worst possible things.”    


“That wasn’t too bad.”    


“No, that was bad. And it’s Audrey. Anything she hears that has to do with us is bad. She always lectures me about how stupid I’m being afterwards.”    


“You don’t think I haven't had a lecture or two?”    


“No, I know you have.” Thao shook her head and hopped out of the car, moving past the one Audrey and Newt were looking in. “I’m just scared one of us will actually listen to her one day.”    


“It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.”    


“You need to stay focused on being the leader, remember?”    


“Apparently Tomboy is the real leader.”    


“We don’t know that Thomas is going to make it. Audrey said there’s signs of a bad infection.”    


“He’ll make it.”    


“I think spending all that time with Audrey made her rub off on you, that sounded very optimistic.”    


“And you sound a bit like Newt when he’s lost hope. Always having to point out the bad in any situation.”    


“What’s good about this situation then?” Thao asked. Minho shrugged, grabbing at the sleeve of her shirt.

“Thay.” He whispered a thought coming to his mind. “Do you ever get an overpowering urge to be with me?”

“Wow. Minho, you should try to be a little more forward next time, might get your point across better.” Thao laughed, but didn’t meet his eyes.

“No. I mean like, your brain is shouting at you to be with me.” He whispered so the others couldn’t hear them. 

“You don’t think-”

“I makes sense, doesn’t it. It such a forceful, passionate feeling, and I have to try to control it sometimes. It gives me a bloody headache.” Minho didn’t know what to do with this sudden realisation.

“And Audrey and Newt keep pushing it on us. Like pushing, pushing.” Thao added, her eyes widening with the thought. “WICKED.”

“Why do they want us together so bad?” Minho asked, cocking his head to the side.

“It’s probably for a variable. They’ll probably kill one of us off or something.” Thao supplied. “I do- Even though it’s WICKED, I still think part of it isn’t WICKED.”

“I know Thay, I lo-”

“Will you two stop having sex with your eyes, and come give us a bloody hand?” Newt called, “Like now, this is really heavy.”   


Minho sighed and reluctantly walked over to help, not sure is he was relieved Newt had cut him off there, or pissed about it. “Ya getting weak there shank?” He joked, or at least tried to joke as he tried help Newt move the pack on the ground, it was full now.    


“Yeah. That’s what it is.” Newt laughed, and the two managed to get it from the ground up onto the back of a car.    


“We need another pack, there’s no way we can drag that back to where Thomas is.” Audrey sighed, scanning through the cars for any signs of clothing, blankets or whatever else would make a good pack.   


“I hate to suggest it, but maybe we hide some food here. Come back for it when we’re running low again. Take just what we can carry.”    


“Might have to.”    


“Wait… What if we use the blankets to drag the stuff back.” Thao suggested. “Or if we threw it on the blanket and each grabbed a corner?”    


“Worth a shot, no telling if we’ll have time to make it back for a second trip or not. Stocking up now is the best option.”    


“Okay. But let’s try to avoid any Crank confrontation on the way back. If we’re all going to drag this on a blanket, it makes fighting anyone off a little harder.”    


“I’d be okay if I never had to see another Crank again.” Newt shook his head. “So, how  _ are _ we going to deal with Thomas?”

“We’ll have to make a stretcher I guess.” Audrey shrugged, looking down at his feet.

“He won’t last three days at this rate.” Thao shook her head, dumping the pack onto the blanket. 

“I was really starting to like that slinthead, too.” MInho sighed, shaking his head. “What are we gonna do though, drag his dead body around?”

“Do you think WICKED will actually let their poster boy die?” Newt scoffed, grabbing the corner of the blanket. 

“Guess not, but what can they do?” Thao asked, grabbing the corner as well. “Ready shanks? Three... two... one... lift.” The four kids heaved and hoisted the blanket into the air. 

“I don’t know. Maybe they will drop down from the sky, fix him up, and leave again.” Minho shrugged, wrapping his corner of the blanket around his hand to hold it better. 

“Or they’ll alien abduct him.” Audrey laughed, she looked at Newt, her smile crinkling her eyes. Minho sighed.  _ Those two shanks better make it out of this and have a million damn babies, they’re so freakin’ cute. _


	16. Thao

By the time the four made it back to the spot where they’d left Thomas with Brenda, Clint and Jeff, the others had already gotten started on trying to set up a shelter. Thao was more then happy to finally let go of the blanket they’d dragged across the sand, and give her one unmangled hand a break.    


Nightfall would be soon, which means that they’d lost a day to find the rendezvous spot that WICKED had told them about.    


“I’m going to go check on Thomas.” Audrey told them as soon as everyone let go of the blanket, before looking over at both Thao and Newt. “And after I’m checking both of your injuries. Whether you want me to or not.”    


“I’m fine.” Newt protested, which only earned him a glare from her. Just nod and go along with it.    


“Whatever you say.” Thao mumbled, but she knew Audrey wouldn’t risk removing the bloody bandage that was wrapped around her hand.    


“Hey shanks!” Frypan called from his spot next to the half built shelter. “Little help!”    


“We’re coming, just give us a few minutes would ya?” Newt huffed, stretching out his leg a little. It must still be sore from when that Crank kicked it.    


“Ya alright?”    


“Bloody fantastic.”    


“Maybe you should let Auds look at it.” Minho suggested, looking over at Newt with a concerned expression. 

“Yeah, I won’t have a choice when she gets back.” Newt laughed, shaking his head. “I think it’s just bruised is all. Nothing we can do for it really.”    


“There’s nothing we can do about a lot right now.” Thao sighed, getting to her feet and walking over to Frypan. She grabbed some of the frayed rope from his hand, and tried to tie the planks together. “How ya doin’ Fry? Haven’t talked properly since the Glade.” She stood on her tip-toes, reaching as high as she could.

“Y’know, like shuckin’ sucks.” He sighed.

“I feel ya.” Thao felt a strong pair of arms wrapping around her waist, and she felt herself being lifted into the air. Seconds later, she found herself sitting on Minho’s shoulders, finally able to reach. 

“I miss the others.” Frypan sighed, helping keep the makeshift wall steady as Thao wrapped the rope. “Especially Gally and Winston.”

“I know man, this sucks.” The three of them moved to the next corner of the hut, doing the same thing. Thao looked over to where Newt was. He was now laying on his back, hands over his head, clenched into fists. His shirt had ridden up on his stomach, and Thao could see Audrey blushing as she walked over to them. 

“Aren’t the two love birds disgustingly cute?” Minho asked, eyeing the couple.

“It’s awful to watch.” Thao laughed, shaking her head.

“I’m gonna be sick.” Frypan admitted with a smirk. “Must be nice for them. At least they have something to hold onto out here.”

“I think everyone has something to hold onto.” Minho explained, passing Thao some more rope. “Like, for example, I can’t wait for more of that shuckin’ pizza.”   


“What about a nice warm shower?” Thao hummed, in agreement about the pizza.    


“You shanks are a lot more hopeful than the rest of us. I’m just hoping we don't see anymore dead bodies or Cranks.” Frypan shook his head, before moving on to go help another Glader at the other end of the shelter.    


Fifteen minutes later the shelter, if you could even call it that, was pretty much done. Thao just hoped it would serve it’s purpose of protecting them from the scorching sun. Almost everyone could fit under it, and the few who couldn’t were give the extra blankets.    


“What’s our next move going to be? We can’t stay here much longer, or we’ll never make it.”    


“I don’t know. We can’t just leave Thomas behind to suffer alone, but he won’t survive if we haul him around too much.” Minho sighed, looking over at the boy with the shoulder wound. 

“It’s getting pretty infected….He must be going through absolute hell.” Audrey sighed, following Minho’s gaze before looking at Thao. “How’s your hand? I don’t want to risk unwrapping it, but please tell me you can still feel it?”    


“Hurts a lot, shuck-face.” Thao grunted, before nodding to Audrey’s tiny cloth covered hand. “What about yours? What happened to it?”    


“It’s nothing serious. Minho was showing me how to use a sword, and I stupidly caught the blade with my hand. It’s a small cut.” She shrugged, not looking overly concerned about it at all. “And its good you can still feel it, even if it hurts.”    


“A sword hey? You know he’s a true knight.” Thao glanced at Minho, were eyes twinkling. He smiled.

“It’s true, I was knighted by a freakin’ princess.”

“You must be pretty damn special, Shank.” Newt laughed, reaching over to pull Audrey close to his side. 

Thomas’s breaths were quick, and it made sleep very difficult. “I want to shut him up.” Minho whispered, just loud enough for Thao to hear. “I want to make him better too. He’s gonna shuckin’ die.”

“We need to move. We can wait one more day, but we cannot waste anymore time.”

“I hate WICKED. They’re ruining everything.” Minho admitted, stretching his hands towards the shuck roof. Thao smiled at him. 

“Reaching for the stars, shuck-face?” She asked, reaching her hands up beside his.

“Caught one.” He laughed, grasping at her fingers. He held them for only a few seconds, then let them go. “Sorry, I think that was WICKED.”

“No, hey we aren’t making up dumb excuses. This is a thing. But we can’t let it affect us too much, because they’ll play us so freakin’ hard.”

\---------- 

Thao woke up the next morning to hear a deep thrumming, full of heavy thumps. She quickly sat up and looked around, noticing most of the other Gladers were looking up at the sky, trying to figure out what was going on.    


“It’s a damned berg!” Jorge called, shielding his eyes as the wind picked up and sand started flying in every direction.   _ What the shuck is a berg? _   


Minho shouted something, and pointed to the north but the noise of the berg made it too loud for her to hear him, even though he was only a few feet in front of her. Thao quickly looked around for Newt, Audrey and Thomas.    


Newt had Audrey pulled into his chest, hiding her face from the sand as he tried to squint from his spot on the ground, exactly where the two had fallen asleep the night before. Thao followed his gaze to see two people headed towards Thomas.    


They were dressed in one-piece baggy, dark green outfits. The word WICKED printed out across their chest. They picked Thomas up, one up his feet and the other under his armpits. Brenda was pushed back from her spot next to him, and she looked upset.    


Thomas screamed as the two WICKED people brought him back towards the contraption they had come down in, and he continued to scream until he passed out.    
Thao was too confused, and too scared to do anything. Everyone else seemed frozen in place, no one knew what was going on. 

And then, a few minutes later they were gone, Thomas along with them. The sand settled down and the wind died, leaving everyone out in the hot sun once again.    
“Had to be a rescue. Probably didn’t want Thomas dying just yet.” 

“What’s that?” Jackson asked, pointing at a little package on the ground. It was wrapped up with brown paper, and had a thin string tied around it’s middle. Minho stepped forward, putting his hand out to keep everyone out.

“Looks like a buggin’ bomb.” Newt muttered. Thao rolled her eyes, and started to follow. Minho knelt down beside the package, and waited for Thao to reach him before he said any thing.

“A8.” He commented, pointing at the characters written on the paper. “Looks like it’s for you.” Thao wondered what it could be. She picked the package up carefully, and walked a little while away. Minho followed a few steps behind.

“It’s either a bomb, or medical klunk for my hand.” Thao said quietly. “If it blows up, I don’t want you here.”

“That’s bull. Sit down, let me fix you up.” Thao sighed, sitting down cross legged, holding the package in her lap. 

“If you blow up, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Thao laughed. Minho rolled his eyes, sitting down in front of her, their knees touching. 

“Don’t say I didn’t love you.” Thao rolled her eyes this time.

“Wouldn’t dream of it. Let’s just get this over with.” Minho reached out, his hands shaking ever-so-slightly, and pulled the package into his lap. He untied the string carefully, and the package fell open. Inside were a number of rolls of bandages, rubbing alcohol, a cloth, a needle and thread, and a few syringes filled with different color liquid.  Thao’s eyes lit up at the syringes filled with red liquid.

“This is gonna be messy. You can go get Audrey if you want.” Thao suggested, holding out her hand. Minho shook his head, and grabbed her arm, just above where the bandages ended. He brought out his knife and began to tear away at the bandages. 

As soon as her hand was uncovered, Minho turned a light shade of green. “I told you that you should get Audrey.” Most of her pinky, and ring finger were gone. There were chunks of her hand missing along the outside, and there was a clean hole right through the middle of her palm. 

“Yeah, because she’d love to see this.” Minho shook his head and sorted his way through the package to get the rubbing alcohol and the cloth first. “I can fix it up without her. Unless you’d prefer it be her.”    


“No, just get on with it then. It hurts.” Thao mumbled, looking away from her hand to see Newt and Audrey making their way over anyways.    


“Okay… this might hurt more.” Minho sighed, pouring the rubbing alcohol onto the open wound, giving Thao the cloth to bite down on.    


It did hurt, it hurt a lot more. But Thao tried not to scream or let on that it hurt as bad as it did. Audrey and Newt sat down next to both of them, being there for emotional support. And probably because Audrey could walk Minho through any problems he ran into.    


But surprisingly, Minho didn’t run into any problems. None that couldn’t be solved by looking to see what was left in the package anyways. He had made it as far as wrapping up her hand with the bandages, after stitching closed all the deep wounds.    


“I’m not sure what ’s in these .” He mumbled, examining the pair of blue syringes. Audrey snatched the all of them away, both red and blue . She looked just as confused as him, carefully examining each one.    


“These two look like the same as the ones that were the painkiller back in the Glade. So I’d guess that's what they are… You might want Jeff and Clint to look over  these two . They are more trained than me.”    


Thao nodded and took one of the identified painkillers back, before tossing the other to Newt.  “I’m not using mine if you don’t use that.” She told him, looking down at the syringe in his lap.    


“Thao, it's meant for your hand. My shuck leg is fine.” 

“Yeah, and my hand isn’t a mangled mess.” She said sarcastically, waiting for him to take the syringe first. He sighed, shaking his head.

“Thanks, Shank.” He took off the protective tip which covered the needle, and tossed it to the sand. Minho pulled the tip off for Thao, and she held the needle to her arm.

“Ready slinthead?” Newt asked. Thao nodded, and they both injected what they hoped was a painkiller. Thao felt the effects immediately. The throbbing in her hand calmed down and turned into a numb tingle. 

“Thank shucking God.” Newt laughed, his face breaking out into a huge smile. “It hasn’t felt this good since before I jumped off that shuck wall.” He laughed, and laughed, and laughed. Clutching his stomach, he rolled back in pure bliss. 

“Ya sure that was a pain killer?” Minho joked, getting caught up in the contagious laughter. “Ya think your hand is gonna be okay now?” He asked once they had calmed down.

“Not at all. I think every bone in it is broken, honestly.” Thao admitted, still laughing slightly. “So what do we do now? Wait till Thomas comes back?”

“If they bring him back. We’ll give em a day or two, but then we’ve gotta haul our shucking butts to the spot where we get the cure.” 

“So waiting it is.”    


“What are we going to do while we wait? It’s not like there is an insane amount to do around here. Especially with the sun causing super bad burns five seconds after you’ve stepped out into it.” Audrey pointed out, looking back at the shelter. “Speaking of, we should get back under that thing.”    


The group nodded and quickly got to their feet, walking back under the shaded area. Thao watched from behind as Newt’s walk was almost without any limp, and smiled. Her hand might hurt again later, along with his leg, but for now they both could ignore the pain. That was a win.    


What wasn’t quite as fun was being shoved under the shade of the shelter with everyone else for hours on end, no one really doing much of anything. It was like they were back to starving in the dorms. No one did a whole lot of moving, and everyone kinda kept to themselves.    


“This shucking sucks.” Audrey mumbled from her spot in between Newt and Thao. “I don’t know what’s worse. Being huddled up under here with everyone when all it smells like is sweat or being out there where your skin cooks every second.”    


“Definitely in here. That smell is awful.”    


“Wish we’d gotten the chance to shower like Brenda offered earlier,” Thao sighed, moving some of her hair away from her eyes. 

“We’ll get another chance to shower eventually. Or even just changing clothes would be nice.” Audrey agreed, moving to tie her hair up with the same small scrap of cloth she usually used back in the Glade. How she had managed to hang on to it for this long, was beyond Thao.    


“Agreed.” Minho sighed, sliding down to lay on the cool sand floor. “I would love to just brush my teeth.”

“I feel disgusting.” Thao agreed, lifting a small handful of the sand, and dropping onto his stomach, where his shirt was allowing for a sliver of skin to peek through. 

“I’m never going to get that out of my shuck underwear.” Minho shook his head, not bothering to wipe it off. “Shuck WICKED.”

Thao watched him as he traced the wall with his fingers. He seemed equally content, as he was spaced out. He looked a bit dehydrated. “When was the last time you had water?” He shrugged, focusing on the patterns on the wood. 

“Think a day or so. Can’t remember.” Thao stood up, walking over to a pack, pulling out a half empty water bottle. She walked back over, taking the lid off and holding it to his mouth. He took a few small sips, and pulled away.

“Thanks.” He whispered after she put the bottle away. 

The rest of the day passed by slowly. Jorge and Brenda had separated themselves, and generally remained outside the hut, in the shade against the side. Audrey had walked to sit by Aris after a few hours, and Newt followed an hour later. The sky was now turning purple, the air getting cooler. 

Minho and Thao now sat silently outside, watching the sun disappear. “We gotta leave tomorrow, don’t have enough time.” Minho admitted.

“I know.” Thao agreed quietly, glancing back at the other Gladers. “They’ll understand too.”    


“Will they?”    


“Of course. They all saw the shape Thomas was in. And if WICKED wants to drop him back with us, they would.” Thao pointed out, not wanting Minho to doubt himself.    
“Good that.” He nodded, and silence lapped over the two for a while. They could hear the Gladers behind them shuffling around, probably getting ready for bed, but Thao and Minho stayed where they were.    


Eventually, the noise behind them died down and all they could hear were whispers. Presumably from Newt and Audrey, since Newt’s accent seemed to carry through the night.    


“He told me he loved her the other night. Back when we were stuck in that old car.” Thao whispered, looking over at Minho.     


“She did too. Told me, I mean. But I don’t think she meant to. She was worried that it was WICKED.”    


“What if it is?”    


“It can’t all be their mind control. Look at them.” Minho snorted, turning back to look at the two, who were snuggled together. Newt playing with Audrey’s hair as she traced patterns on his shirt. “You can’t force all of that.”    


“What else did you two talk about?”    


“Well, Audrey told me off for being a shuck-face.”    


“What’d you do to make her mad?” Thao asked, although she was pretty sure she knew the answer.    


“I said something to her I shouldn’t have.” He sighed, dropping his head forward. Thao decided he would tell her when it was the right time.

“I told Newt.” She admitted, bringing her knees to her chest.

“Oh.” Minho didn’t react. “What’d he say?”

“He thanked me. He cried the whole shuckin’ night, though.” She sighed, tracing patterns in the sand.

“He deserves to know.”

“I just- I didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t realise how hard it would be to say those things to him.” They sat in silence for a few more minutes, before Minho rocked back onto his hands. 

“I want WICKED out of my head.” Minho whispered, looking at her from the corner of his eyes. “I just want to know what’s real, and what isn’t.” 

“I know.” Thao felt heart broken again, just like all those days in the maze with Minho or Newt breaking down. “I want to know how many of my feelings are actually real. I want to know if some of them are stronger, or weaker than WICKED makes them. Like, what if i’m head over heels for Frypan, and they’re just suppressing my feelings?” She laughed bitterly.

At some point in their conversation, they had both fallen asleep. Thao woke up to the same thrumming sound she’d heard the day WICKED took Thomas, and was up on her feet a few seconds later.    


Everyone else was still getting up by the time Minho and her had both started running towards a swinging box in the air, Thomas strapped inside. Everyone else caught up just in time to see him land on the ground.    


Everyone erupted with questions all at once when they saw Thomas was awake.    


“What was that all about?”    


“Are you okay?”    


“What’d they do to you?”    


“What they want?”    


“Have fun in the Berg?”    


“How’s your shoulder?”    


Thomas struggled to get up, and looked past everyone else until his eyes landed on Minho.    


“A little help here?” He asked, before Minho, Audrey and herself were all working to untie him. Once the boy was free he got on his feet and stretched out, still not answering a single question the Gladers threw at him. Thao didn’t really blame him either, she wouldn’t have.    


“What are you guys doing out in the open? Your skin is gonna bake!” He said after a few seconds of taking in his surroundings. Obviously he doesn’t remember the hut being built then.    
Minho pointed it out to him, before looking around at everyone. “We better get back under that thing.” They walked to the shelter, Thomas seeming to be completely fine, no sign of the injury that nearly killed his the day before. 

“So what happened?” Thao asked, pulling him to the floor to sit with her. Brenda walked over, sitting on his other side. 

“We’re all- we’re all candidates for something.” He made a steady eye contact with Newt as he spoke, as if he only trusted him to believe him. Thao reached out, squeezing his forearm, urging him to continue. 

“I kept passing out. But I kept hearing- the doctors I guess- I kept hearing them talk about how it wasn’t supposed to happen. So I guess they don’t want me dead yet.” He paused, shrugging slightly. “They said stuff about killzone patterns, and more variables. They kept saying the other candidates. Apparently there’s five or six candidates that they’re really focused on.”

“What are we buggin’ candidates for?” Newt asked, perplexed.

“I don’t know. Maybe the cure? Maybe their final goal? There’s gotta be a reason they’re putting us through these trails to find the cure, maybe they only need one of us or something.” Thomas suggested.

“That’s a really good idea, actually Thomas. It makes sense.” Audrey nodded, paying close attention to what Thomas was saying. 

“So that makes a whole lot of sense.” Minho replied sarcastically. “Must have something to do with those signs back in the city.”

“It’s really nice to know you’re  _ so _ happy to see me alive Minho.” Thomas laughed.

“Hey man, if you want to be the leader, it’s all yours.”

“Nah, you keep it. My conscious is messy enough as it is.”

“Thanks Thomas, ya always know how to make a guy feel good about himself.”

“No problem, Shank, I do my best.”

“So we’re all potential candidates for something. And maybe the purpose of all the buggin’ klunk we’ve been through is to weed out those who don’t qualify. But for some reason the whole gun-and-rusty-bullet thing wasn’t part of the….normal tests. Or Variables, whatever. If Thomas is gonna croak and die, it wasn’t suppose to come from a bloody infection.” Newt scowled, summarizing everything up.    


“What this means is that they’re watching us.” Minho said. “Just like they did in the Maze. Has anyone seen a beetle blade running around anywhere?”  Several Gladers shook their head, Jorge and Brenda looking confused.    


“There’s no way they're using the same thing as in the Maze. They could be using satellites or long-range cameras, I guess.” Aris said, shaking his head.    


“What is it about Thomas that makes him so special?” Jorge started. “Those signs in the city, and then WICKED swooping in here to save his butt… I’m not trying to be mean, muchacho-- I’m just curious. What makes you better than the rest of your buddies?”    


It was a fair point. How many had they lost in the Lighting storm? Or with that metal goo ball of death? Why’d they risk saving Thomas’s ass.    


“I’m not special. You heard what they said. We have lots of ways to die out here, but the gun wasn’t supposed to be one of them. They would have saved anyone who got shot.” 

Discussions broke out between what was left of the Gladers, but Minho shushed them all, insisting that everyone should get some sleep before they started marching through the night. Thao couldn’t have agreed more. 

Thomas walked over to the back wall of their hut, and curled into a ball. Brenda laid down next to him. Somehow,someway they all managed to squeeze into the makeshift shelter. I was a tight fit, but it made Thao feel a lot better, now that they were all back together.

Her back was pressed against Newt’s, and she could feel the pull of his shirt every time Audrey moved her hand along his side. Minho sat beside Thao, eyes wide open and staring at the opposite wall. She dragged her fingers up and down his leg, from half down his shin, all the way to his hip bone, and back again. She felt a hand brush hair away from her face, and she slipped into a deep sleep.


	17. Audrey

Hours passed, and Audrey woke up to a dark sky and Minho shaking Newt and her awake. She almost protested, and buried her face into Newt’s shoulder. But Newt was too concerned with going to check on Thomas to stay still for another second.    


She sighed and turned to Thao with a small smile. “I shouldn’t be jealous of ‘Tommy’ should I? It’s silly of me right?” She asked, using Newt’s nickname for Thomas.    


“Maybe. But who knows, maybe Newt and Minho both love him.” Thao shook her head and laughed, before moving to pack up everything she could.    


“Good, I was hoping I wasn’t the only one who noticed.” She sighed, shaking her head. 

“Only one who noticed what?” Minho asked, coming back from waking everyone else up.    


“How increasingly annoying sleeping on sand is.” Audrey shrugged, as Newt made his way back over. “I swear I have a enough sand in my hair to fill a pond at this point.”    


“You wanted others to notice that?” Minho asked, seeming unconvinced with her cover story.    


“Yeah, god Min, pay more attention, would ya?” Thao laughed.    


“Girls are weird.” He breathed quietly, just as Newt finally reached them.    


“I second that.” The blonde-haired boy grinned, making Audrey bite at her cheek to keep from smiling herself. _It’s like his smile is contagious._   


“You don’t even know what we’re talking about!”    


“Yeah, but it's Thao and you.” Newt teased.    


Audrey rolled her eyes and looked over at Thomas. “So how was he?”    


“Good. Apparently WICKED really worked their magic on him. Says he can’t feel a bloody thing.”    


“Really?” Audrey asked, watching as Thomas went on as if he wasn’t shot in the shoulder a few days ago. “That’s good.”  

“I’ll take whatever pain meds they gave him.” Thao laughed, waving her shuck hand in the air. They spent ten minutes packing up everything they had, and soon the Gladers were outside, lined up and ready to go.

“Right, you shanks, we’ll run for an hour or so, and then take a break.” Minho said to their small group. It broke Audrey’s heart that there were too few of them to have to yell to get their attention. “And this time, if shuckin’ Tomboy over here decides to run for his money, we aren’t following him. Good that?”

“Good that” A chorus answered back.

“No promises Minho.” Thomas shrugged, taking a position beside Minho. “Let’s get to it then.” They took off running. Audrey made a promise to herself that she would never long-distance run again after they got their cure. 

About half an hour into it, Newt and her started to drift in different directions. Newt went to Thomas’s side, while Audrey fell back into step with Aris. “Hey.”

“Hi Audrey.” He smiled at her, pushing his sweaty hair out of his face. “How are you?”

“Fantastic, going for a nice little jog.”

“So not a fan or running then?” Aris laughed, as Audrey nodded.    


“Yeah. But somehow, my best friends are all Runners.” She sighed, and their conversation ended there.

Her legs were starting to get sore, and tired so she fell back a little more. The mountains were getting closer and the night air was cool. She was pretty sure that’s the only reason she could keep running, because the wind was there to help cool her off.    


Finally, the first traces of dawn started to appear, turning the sky a deep, dark blue. Audrey had enough energy left in her to catch up to Thao, Minho and Newt just as everyone started walking. They were going to reach the foot of the mountains before the sun came out today thanks to those hours of running, even if her legs felt like giving out any second.    


“Hey.” She panted when she caught up, gently moving to hold Newt’s hand. “How are you guys?”    


“In better shape then you.” Minho teased, barely breaking a sweat. Stupid Runner.    


“Obviously.” Audrey huffed. “I hate running.”    


“Not too much farther to go.”    


“Great. Where’d Thomas go?”    


“Talking to his new girlfriend. I get to be the one to tell Casey.” Newt joked, and pointed to where Brenda and Thomas were.    


“Aww, Newt are you jealous that he won’t pay attention to you?” Audrey teased, unable to stop herself.    


“What?” Newt laughed, but Audrey could see a tiny blush threaten to redden his cheeks.    


“You are!” She laughed, pointing up at his cheeks. “Look, Thao he’s blushing!”    


“Maybe you should be worried Thomas is trying to steal him.” Thao laughed with her, and both boys looked utterly confused.    


“What are you on about?” Newt asked, cocking his head to the side. Minho called out for everyone to stop, and walk for a bit.

“Well it’s obvious you are both insanely in love with Thomas.” Audrey laughed.

“But hey, what’s not to love?” Thao chirped, eyes crinkling at the boys expressions. “I mean, have you seen him shirtless? He’s such a shuckin’ god.”

“I know, and have you seen those eyes?” Audrey stressed, earning a shocked look from both boys.

“And his smile!” Thao added, bringing her hands to her chest, looking completely blissed out.

“He’s so hot.” They both said at the same time, watching the horrified expressions on Minho and Newt’s faces.

“Who’s hot?” Thomas said from behind them. All four of them whipped around, faces flushed.

“Uh-” Newt stammered, face getting redder by the second.

“You, Tomboy.” Thao explained. “We were just discussing how these two boys here seem to have a little crush on WICKED’s very own poster boy.” She slid her arm around him, pulling him close to her side. “I tried to tell them we were already together, but they just won’t listen.” Thao started to fake-cry, sniffling into Thomas’s shoulder. “They’re jealous.”

“Guys, I know it’s hard for you two to understand.” Thomas began, holding Thao tightly as they walked, causing them both to stumble a bit. “But I’m just so in love with Thao.” He smiled, giving a breathy laugh before continuing. “But I’d totally shuck you, Newt.”

Audrey watched as Newt’s face became a bright shade of red, and momentarily wondered if Newt would actually consider that offer. But that only made her laugh more, leaning against Newt for support gently.    


“You’re a little red there, Love.” She whispered, attempting a british accent. But he didn’t say anything right away, and only pulled her closer to his side.    


“Sorry Tommy, I’ll have to pass.” He supplied a few seconds later, the blush fading from his face. “I can’t tarnish my reputation by becoming a cheater.”    


“Oh, you have a reputation?”    


“Quite. Audrey’s first day in the Maze, I had a whole twenty-three girls just dying to be with me.”    


“You remember that?” Audrey laughed, looking over at the british boy beside her.    


“I don't.” Thao answered, looking over at Minho to see if he would either. But of course, neither did he, because the pair had been too busy goofing off at the time.    


“Yeah, when was this?”    


“My first night. I asked what the deal with romance was, and what was up with you shanks.” Audrey started, smiling at the memory. “Then I asked Newt about his love lif--”    


“And when I told her I hadn’t had one, least not in a while, she looked unconvinced.” Newt interrupted. “Said that I probably had all the girls chasing me, thanks to my bloody accent. Asked her how many she’d seen doing just that. She said twenty-three.”    


“You thought Newt had twenty-three girls chasing after him?” Thao laughed, shaking her head. “Twenty-three?”    


“Shank couldn’t even get one to look at him. Not til you showed up anyhow.” Minho laughed along with her.    


“Oi, like you’ve done much better! The both of you!” Newt huffed. 

“Excuse you, Mr. Newton.” Thao said in an accusatory tone. “But just how many people do you think we’ve both been with since coming up in those boxes?” Newt flushed and shrugged, looking at the ground. 

“Come on now, let’s take some guesses, Tomboy first. How many each?” Minho asked, nudging the brunette in the shoulder.

“Each other included?” 

“Yup.” Minho nodded, ‘accidentally’ stepping on the back of Thao’s shoes. Audrey rolled her eyes.

“I’d say two for you, Thao, and Brenda. And for Thao.... four. She’s far better looking than you.”

“Rude. Moving on, Audrey, what’s your guess?”   


“Just please don’t let the answer be twenty-three. For either of you.” She said nervously, trying to avoid answer the question and offending anyone.

“Nope, not how the game works, sweetcheeks. Answer the question.”   


“This is going to end terribly. Three for Minho, considering that one time Newt said you kissed him.” She started, laughing a little. “And I want to be navie and say one for Thao, but I know it won’t be right.” 

“And Newtie boy, final answer?”

“I know at least three for each of you, so that’s what i’m sticking with. Three for each.” Newt crossed his arms defiantly, rolling his eyes. “And if that’s true, maybe we should be keeping an eye on Tommy here, he’s doing just as good as any of us, and has only been out of the box for a month.” 

“True, good job greenie.” Minho nodded his head towards Thomas, smirking a bit. “I’m gonna say two for Thao.”

“I’m going to say three for Min. And actually, Tomboy was right, four.” Thao answered, smirking.

“What who?” Minho asked, eyes wide. “I’ve had five, so i’m the winner here.”

“I don’t kiss and tell. Unless you share first, shank. Who were the other two?”

“Oh no, that’s a disaster waiting to happen.” Audrey shook her head, looking at the two. “Might be better if you don’t kiss and tell.”    


“Nah, I’m curious now.” Minho grinned, and Audrey sighed.  _ Why do I bother?  _   


“Alright, then who were the other two?”    


“I think one was Maggie? It was before Thao came up, and I’d had a bit too much to drink. She was there and so I kissed her. Pretty sure she slapped me, told me off right after. And the other was Jordan. A month or two after Thao showed up.”    


“Wow, such a romantic Min.” Thao rolled her eyes, and Audrey hoped her stories were similar to Minho’s. Simple, unattached kisses that didn’t mean too much.    


“You bet. Now I believe you have some names to tell us.” Minho smiled. 

“Well, I mean it’s not exactly fair to just give out people’s names, it might be incriminating.” Thao joked, glancing at Newt. He gave her a short nod and a smirk. “But that’s their own problem I guess.”

“Spit it out, shuck-face.” Audrey pressed, anxious to know. 

“Alright, alright. One was good ol’ Nick. It was like a drunk thing, kind of. It was like a hangover thing, more so.” She explained with a casual shrug. “And the other was Newtie boy.”

“Oooh. Same way Minho and Newt kissed, I suppose?” Thomas asked, laughing, elbowing Newt in the ribs. 

“Nah, not quite. But I don’t want to share that story.” Thao answered, and Audrey felt a pang in her stomach.  _ It was forever ago, don’t get jealous you slinthead. _ “So Tomboy,” Thao asked, walking so she was just behind the boy. “Want to make it five?” She winked. He laughed.   


“Wait, so what’s that put Newt at?” Thomas asked, looking at the group in front of him. “If he’s kissed both you shanks, and Audrey… Three?”    


“Four actually.” Newt mumbled, glancing over at Audrey. Don’t look upset, this was all before you. And one was Minho for god sakes.    


“Four?” Thomas asked, looking amused. “Who am I missing?”    


“A girl named Jen. She died back in the Maze from a Griever attack about a year ago now.”    


“Oh.” Thomas didn’t look so amused anymore, and neither did Newt. Audrey certainly didn’t feel amused anymore. “Audrey, what are you at?” 

“Just one.” She said, trying to shrug it off. Although she had a feeling it wasn’t going as planned.    


“Wait, really?” Thomas asked, looking between Newt and her.  _ That’s what I just said, yeah.  _   


“Mhmm.” She nodded, and forced a smile. _Be happy, you love Newt. What’s it matter that he’s kissed four other people and you’ve only kissed him?_   


“I just thought I’d be last.” Thomas mumbled, making Audrey look over at him before up at Brenda.    


“Guess you thought wrong.” She immediately bit her tongue. “Sorry.” She muttered, dropping her eyes.

“Woah, Audrey, you know it doesn’t matter how many people you’ve kissed. Frankly, I think you got the best kisser out of the group.” Minho nudged Newt in the ribs, and Newt swatted him away, pulling Audrey to his side and kissing her temple.

“I hope I’m the only one you  _ ever _ kiss.” He whispered huskily, nipping at her ear playfully. The pang that hit Audrey’s stomach was a lot different this time. She smiled, wiggling to get away from him. She looked up, out at the horizon and stopped dead. Newt crashed into, and the pair steadied themselves just in time.

In the not so far distance, a figure was walking towards them. In her hand was a long wooden spear, with some sort of shuck blade on the end. Audrey’s stomach dropped at the thought it may be a Crank. As the figure got closer, it turned out that it was not a Crank. It was much, much worse.

It was Casey. She walked towards them, head held high, avoiding eye contact, dried tear tracks on her cheeks. Slowly, others started to appear around her.  _ Group B _ .

Audrey turned to look back at Newt, confusion taking over both of their features.    


“What do we do?” She whispered.  _ How did this always happen? Joking one minute, upset the next and then surprise, a twist.  _   


“Look’s like Tommy has a plan.” Newt whispered back, arms pulling Audrey back towards him. She watched as Thomas took a step forwards, stopping once he realized she wasn’t alone.    
There had to be at least twenty of them, all holding different weapons. Knives, swords, machetes. Some even had bows and arrows, pointed at all the Gladers. They were ambushed, and Group B outnumbered them.    


“What's happening? Why’s she doing this?” Audrey mumbled again, happy that Newt was right next to her.    


“What’s this crap, Casey? Nice way to greet your long lost buddies.” Minho said from somewhere to Audrey’s left, but Newt was blocking her view of him.    
Brenda spun around and looked at Thomas, who nodded.  _ Guess that means he told her about Casey then.  _   


Casey moved closer, stopping ten feet in front of the Gladers. She looked over them all, and for a second Audrey swore the girl in front of her looked terrified. But then, seconds later she looked terrifying again.    


“Casey?” Newt asked, and probably would have taken a step forward if Audrey wasn’t there. “What the bloody---”    


“Shut up.” She said. She didn’t snap or yell, just calmly and with conviction. “And any of you makes a move, the bows start shooting.” The spear in her hand moved into a better fighting position, and Audrey was suddenly very glad she’d been standing in front of Newt.    


She moved to be in front of Thomas, and Audrey sucked in a breath. Something was wrong.    


“Casey.” The brown-haired boy whispered, almost sounding relived. “Casey, what’s---”    


“Shut up.” It didn’t sound like the Casey Audrey saw back in the Glade.    


“But what---” Casey brought her weapon to Thomas’s right cheek and swung, leaving a cut there. Thomas crumpled to his knees, a hand covering the wound she’d just inflicted on him.    


“I said shut up.” She reached down and grabbed him by the shirt, jerking him back up. Audrey was so confused and scared, she didn’t know what to do. “Is your name Thomas?”    
Okay, wait. What?    


“You know who I--” Casey swung the spear, hitting him on the ear with the side that didn’t have the blade. He fell to his knees again, blood trickling down his face. Casey looked down at him with wide, scared eyes. He reached out for her. “You know who I am.” He choked out, trying to grab her hand, or at least stop the blade from swinging at him again.

“I asked, is your name Thomas?” She asked, her voice stern, but calm. Audrey could feel her hands shaking, and her heart breaking.

“Yes!” He sobbed, both hands in the air to guard his head now. “Yes, i’m Thomas!” Casey nodded and took a step back from Thomas. The boy nearly fell at her feet, trying to reach out for her, if it hadn’t been for Casey’s blade pointing directly at his chest. “Casey. Casey, please.” 

Casey started to back up, joining the others again. She stood beside an attractive boy. His hair was the same color as Thao’s. Audrey stared at him a little longer. Not because he was attractive (which he was), but because he looked  _ exactly _ like Thao. Audrey chance a quick glance at Minho, who seemed to have noticed the boy as well.

“Thomas,” Casey called, drawing Audrey’s attention back to the situation. “You’re coming with us. Remember, anyone moves, the arrows will fly.”   


“No way!” Minho protested. “You’re not taking him anywhere.” 

Casey acted as if she hadn’t heard him and she continued to stare at Thomas. “This isn’t some stupid game. I’m going to start counting. Every time I hit a multiple of five, we’ll kill one of you with an arrow. We’ll do it until Thomas is the only one left, then we’ll take him anyways. It’s up to you.”    


Audrey looked away from the girl and tried to focus her attention anywhere else.  _ That’s not Casey. Must be WICKED’s mind control.  _ Then, she noticed Aris starting at each of the other group members, probably in shock that his old group would so easily end his life to kidnap Thomas. 

“One!” Casey shouted,and Thomas walked forward pushing past people until he reached where Casey was. He seemed to be ignoring everything, and everyone.    


“Thomas, are ya outta your shucking mind?”    


“What are you doing?”    


“Thomas!”    


“Get back here you shuck-face!”    


“Fine.” He said, looking directly at Casey. “Take me.”    


“I only made it to one.”    


“Yeah, I’m really brave that way.”  _ Really Thomas, you're going to attempt to joke right now? _

Casey hit him with the spear for the third time, and Audrey jumped in Newt’s arms. She’s going to crack his head open. He fell to the ground yet again, but this time Casey didn’t pull him back up.    


“Bring the bag.” Casey’s voice was shaking as she said it, but her expression remained cold. Two girls, one with dark skin and long dreadlocks, and a smaller blonde girl, moved forward. In their hands, they held a burlap sack. “We’re taking him. If anyone decides to follow, i’ll hit him again, and they’ll start shooting.”

“Casey, what’s going on? Are they making you do this?” Minho asked desperately. Casey swung again, hitting the spear on the back on Thomas’s head. One of the arrows shot, flying right in between Minho and Thao’s heads, barely missing. 

“One more word, and she’s dead.” Casey warned, pointing at Thao. There were fresh tears streaming down Casey’s face, and Audrey’s heart sank at the sight of Thomas’s desperate look. He had fallen forward onto his hands, staring up at her like a hopeless little boy. 

The pair of girls stepped forward, shoving Thomas so that he was laying on his back. Audrey could tell he wasn’t trying to resist anymore, clearly in too much pain to do anything. They knelt down beside Thomas, getting ready to put the sack over his head. 

Audrey couldn’t hear everything they said to him, but one part in particular stood out quite loudly. “-go along and let us kill you- lot of pain.” They threw the sack over his head, and slipped it over his entire body. Audrey wanted to scream and help, but she knew they’d all be dead in a second if she did. 

They tied a rope around the top of the sack, just above Thomas’s head. The dark-skinned girl grabbed the end of the rope, pulling it tight. “Boys.” She called. The few boys that belonged to their group, including the one that looked like Thao, came forward and grabbed the rope. 

Thomas started screaming, thrashing around in the bag. “Casey, please!” She hit him in the stomach this time, and Audrey let out a muffled scream. 

“Talk again, and we’ll start shooting your friends. The Brit first.” Thomas stopped immediately, and Audrey slid in front of Newt even more. _ Like hell that’s happening.  _   


“I meant what I said! There won’t be another warning. Follow us, and you’re all dead.” And then, the group retreated, Casey leading them away with Thomas being dragged behind them. And there was nothing the Gladers could do about it.    



	18. Newt

No one moved for a long time after Group B had vanished from their sights, and no one said anything either. Somehow, they’d been outsmarted and now Thomas was gone. Newt didn’t want to think about the hell his friend was going to go through, since Casey had been so kind as to show just how nice they’d treat him.    


“Are we just supposed to let them take him?” Audrey mumbled, her gaze fixated on the spot where they’d last seen Thomas.    


“What else can we do? Those shanks outnumber us, and they all have weapons of their own.” Minho sighed, kicking the sand in front of him angrily.    


“Casey...  she wouldn’t… That wasn’t like her.”    


“No, but it’s a lot like WICKED. Must be another one of their variables.” Thao frowned.    


“So what now?” Frypan asked, looking between Newt and Minho.  _ Don’t look at me, I’m not bloody in charge.  _ _   
_

“We have four days to reach that stupid safe haven. We’ll rest a little further up for the night, and decide more in the morning.” Minho said, loud enough for everyone to hear.    


“What about Thomas?” Newt wasn’t sure who asked, he was too busy adjusting the pack on his back and pulling Audrey to his side. She’d been standing directly in front of him ever since 

Casey threatened to kill him first, and hadn’t moved since.    


“We’ll just have to hope Casey comes to her sense. And fast.” Minho huffed, before taking the lead and guiding the group into the shaded area of the forest.    


“I wonder how difficult it is to break their mind control…” Audrey sighed, running her fingers through her tangled hair. Newt shrugged.

“If my acrobatic stunt was all WICKED, then it’s nearly impossible.” Newt told her, grabbing her hand. He wanted to assure her that everything would be okay, but he knew it wouldn’t.

“Right, let’s get moving you guys.” Minho told them, grabbing the knife from his belt and twirling it around in his hand.  _ I hope you cut your fingers off doing that, slinthead. _ The Gladers gathered their things, and they set off at a slower run. “I figure, if we go slow, they won’t think we’re following them and kill Tomboy or something.” 

“Good that.” Newt agreed, feeling a slight pinch in his hip every time he stepped down on his bad leg.  _ Four more days shuck-face. Then you can lay in a bed for the rest of your buggin’ life. _ “Four days is a long time.” He said to Audrey. She gave him a curt nod in reply.

The thing about having a Runner as a leader was that the group was cut into a hierarchy of fitness in no time. Minho and Thao were able to keep a steady pace, and run faster. Newt could keep up to them for a few hours, but he wouldn’t be able to walk for the next week. He was able to sprint still, which provided beneficial in half the situations that he’d been thrown into already. Long distances were an entirely different story, however. The ache in his leg only grew with each step.

Three hours into the run, Minho motioned for everyone to stop. Frypan, Clint, and Jeff were at the back of the group, struggling to catch their breaths. Jordan and Clara were next, running alongside Jorge and Jackson. They didn’t seem to be in as much pain as the others, and surely not as much pain as Newt, but they were still exhausted. Brenda and Aris seemed to have bonded, running together not far behind Newt and Audrey. 

Audrey walked closer to him, standing on her toes to press a sweet, chaste kiss to his lips. He smiled at her, pulling her closer for more. She responded forcefully, causing Newt to take a step backwards, all the weight on his shuck leg. 

He saw stars.

The next thing he knew, he was on the ground, face buried in sand, Audrey next to him. “Newt? Are you okay?”

“Minho.”

“No, I’m Audrey.” He wanted to laugh, he really did, but he had more important matters to deal with.

“Cute. Get Minho.” She disappeared for a few seconds, before hauling a sweaty Minho back with her.

“What’s up Shank?” His voice was laced with concern.

“Can’t run like this.”   


“Why don’t we stop and rest? It’s been a few hours…” Audrey suggested, looking overly guilty.    


“Good that.” Minho said, looking between Audrey and Newt. “How exactly did ya get down there shank?”    


“What’s it look like? I fell.” Newt smirked, and Audrey’s face started to turn bright red.    


“What’s going on? Why’s Newt laying down there? And why is Audrey blushing?” Thao asked as she joined the group, looking between all three of them.    


“Nothing.” Audrey yelped.   


“Audrey got a little too aggressive with Newtie boy and he fell.” Minho laughed. Audrey only blushed harder, shaking her head before kneeling down beside Newt.    


“You have sand everywhere.”    


“And whose fault is that?” He smiled, before stretching out his leg with a small hiss. Audrey didn’t answer him, but instead started to gently brush it all off of his face.    


“I’m sorry.” She mumbled, once Minho and Thao had gone back to whatever they were doing before. “I didn’t think you’d fall.”    


“I’m not complaining.” He didn’t want her to feel bad about this. Technically it had been his own fault, he was the one that took a step back knowing he’d be putting all the weight on his bad leg.     


“Newt.” She had a small smile playing on her lips, shaking her head. She always looked so cute whenever she did that. He smiled back and gently pulled her towards him, kissing her cheek.    


“I’m fine.”    


“Alright, that’s enough you two. You’re going to make everyone else sick.” Minho called, and Audrey’s cheeks turned bright pink again.    


“Slim it, Minho.” Newt shot back, grinning a bit. He reached up and cupped the back of Audrey’s neck, pulling her so their lips met once again. He could hear gagging noises coming from around them but he didn’t care. 

A few minutes later, he pulled back, breathless. “Hey.” He said simply, smiling up at Audrey.

“Hi shank.” She smiled back, playing with a few strands of his golden hair. “We should go to the others.” Newt sat up slightly, looking around. The others had migrated about thirty feet away, sitting down and talking. 

Audrey stood up, helping Newt clamber to his feet. They walked over to the group, sitting down amongst the Gladers. 

“You two get all your hormones out then?” Minho asked, nudging Newt with his elbow. 

“Yeah, yeah. You should try it sometime.” Newt suggested, nudging him back.

“You’re right. I should.” Minho declared, getting to his feet. “Jeff! Jeff, I have to tell you something!” Minho started to walk over to the boy, who looked shocked. “I’m madly in love with you.” 

“Course you are Minho, go do something useful, yeah?” Jeff rolled his eyes, turning back to Jordan, who he seemed to be flirting with. 

“Rejection hurts bud.” Thao sighed, patting Minho on the back when he sat back down with the group.

“Ten more minutes, shanks!” Minho called, before laying down on his back, staring at the sky. The sun would be coming up in an hour or two, and they didn’t really have enough material to cover the whole group. 

“Min?” Newt asked, smacking his foot.

“Whadaya want?”

“When the sun comes up, we just gonna roast or something?” Newt was worried about it, and he was especially worried that Minho wasn’t worried about it.

“We’ll figure it out. People can share stuff. You and Audrey, Jeff and Jordan, Brenda and Aris. It’ll be fine.” Minho stressed, shrugging.    


“Why don’t we try to find a shady spot under the mountain? We don't really need full out protection, just enough shade that the sun doesn't roast us.” Audrey suggested, looking between the two boys.    


“If we can find one.” Minho agreed, stretching out before they would continue moving in a few minutes.    


“We’ll find a spot.” Audrey insisted, trying to sound optimistic. She took her own pack off her back and moved to grab her water, taking a few tiny sips. Newt was glad that Jorge had been able to show them where proper canteens where, and that they were still stuck using the plastic bags from the dorm.    


“Course we will.” Newt agreed, moving to take a few sips from the bottle when she passed it to him.    


“Could you two be anymore disgustingly cute?” Thao shook her head.    


“Probably. Why? Do you want us to be?” Audrey joked, moving closer to Newt. He smiled and prepared himself for another kiss, but Thao said something and Audrey quickly pulled back.  _ Damn it.  _ “What are we doing?” Audrey muttered, looking down at her hands.

Newt quickly ran through all the possible mistakes he could have ever made in his mind. Nothing came up. “Wha- what do you mean?” He asked, desperately trying not to panic.

“Thomas was just kidnapped by Casey, and we’re sitting around laughing and making out.” She half yelled, her eyes holding a certain fire. “We have to do something! I’m tired of sitting by and letting WICKED control us like this.” She rose to her feet and by now, everyone was staring at her, wide-eyed. 

“Audrey-”

“Don’t, Newt.” She glared at him. He shrunk back, wondering desperately when that sweetheart tattoo would kick in. “I can’t just sit here and wait around.” Minho walked up to her, grabbed her arm and started to pull her away from the group. He turned back, motioning for Newt and Thao to follow.

“Listen guys.” Minho said quietly, once they were a reasonable distance away from the group. “I have an idea, but it might be stupid.” 

“All your ideas are stupid, Min. But stupid ideas are always the best ones.” Thao nudged him, Audrey did not look impressed.

“Stop joking around!”

“Stop acting like you run the place, ‘sweetheart.’” Minho scowled, crossing his arms. “Anyways. I say we take the group to the safe haven. I don’t want to get anymore of those shanks killed.”

“What about Thomas.” Audrey demanded. Newt wanted to reach out to her, but figured he might get a good kick to the bits if he tried.

“ _ If _ Thomas is not there, I will stay behind and go find the shank.”

“We will stay behind.” Thao corrected, crossing her arms.

“Yes, but there’s one big problem with the plan.” Minho started.

“WICKED might already have him. The variable could be to  _ make _ us stay behind.” Newt finished for him.   


“Group B has to go to the safe haven too. If Thomas isn’t there, we should ask them about it. They’ll know what happened.” Audrey said, starting to calm down now. She looked over at Minho with a glare though, before punching him in the arm.    


“What was tha--”    


“You know what that was for. Don’t ya dare say ya don’t.” Newt gave Minho a questioning look, but the boy just shrugged in response. Odd.    


“We’re agreed then?”    


“Absolutely.”    


“Yeah.”    


“As long as we get these other shanks to the safe haven first.” Newt nodded, looking at the three people in front of him.    


“After we find Thomas, can the next step be getting the hell away from WICKED?” Audrey asked, definitely starting to sound more like her usual self. “I’m not sure how much more ‘we can control you and everything you think’ nonsense I can take without going mad.”    


“I wouldn’t mind that.”    


“After that, there needs to be pizza.”    


“No, a nice hot shower.” Audrey laughed, her mood changing around again.  _ Maybe WICKED thought we were having too much fun. _ He thought, looking the blonde haired girl over.  _ Or it’s the other way around…  _ _   
_

“We need to get on the move again, before the sun comes up.” Minho said, pulling Newt away from his thoughts.    


“Do we? More running is not something to look forward to.”    


“C’mon, let’s go make sure everyone packs up.” Thao said, rolling her eyes and tugging Audrey back towards the others.    


“Hey Min.” Newt said, stopping his friend before he left.    


“What’s up Shank?”    


“Have you noticed… anything different about Auds or Thao?” He asked, watching as the girls left.    


“Different how?” He knew something.    


“Audrey just punched you. And switched emotions like three times.”    


“Maybe it’s her time of t---”    


“Min, seriously.”    


“I dunno what you want me to say. She mentioned the other night that she didn’t want to become what her tattoo defined her as, if that helps.”    


“That why she punched you?”    


“Probably. Now c’mon, we have an hour or two more to run. Your leg okay after your fall?”    


“Yeah, it’s fine.”  Newt shot back, ruffling his hair. “Everything seems too relaxed, y’know? I feel really relaxed, despite the fact our friend just got beat up and kidnapped.”

“WICKED?” Minho asked as they packed up their things.

“No, It feels- it feels different, somehow.” Newt admitted, slinging a sack over his shoulder. “I don’t really know how to explain it.”

“It’s like the Maze,” Minho supplied. “Ya know you’re gonna go out there, and ya might die. But it doesn’t really matter, right? Because you’re still back in the protection of the Glade. You can eat something Fry cooked up, wake up happily, be with your friends. I think it’s relaxing to know you’re not ‘bout to die at the moment.”

“I don’t know, Shank. This feels wrong. That doesn’t.” Newt shook his head, he really couldn’t explain it, but the guilt was eating away at his stomach.

They set off running again, mostly in silence. They ran until the sky started to turn red, the sun rising over the mountains. Audrey found a large shaded spot, and pointed it out to Minho.

They laid on the sand, trying to fall asleep. Half an hour later, Audrey and Newt were the only ones still awake.

“Sorry I snapped at you earlier.” Audrey whispered, readjusting her position next to him. They hadn’t spoken since her outburst, and she was currently lying farther away then Newt would have liked.    


“It’s fine love, we’re all stressed.” He mumbled, turning to look at her.     


“No kidding.” She smiled a little, and scooted a bit closer, before stopping again like she was unsure if she should cuddle with him or not. “Do you think Thomas is okay?”    


“I hope so.”    


“Me too.” She sighed, glancing up at the sky. A few minutes passed without either one saying anything, and Newt suddenly didn’t feel as relaxed as before. He felt tense, as if something bad were about to happen. “Newt?”  _ Oh shuck me.  _   


“Mhmm?” He mumbled, hoping he didn’t sound panicked. _What are you doing shank? Calm yourself down._   


“We’re okay right?” She surprised him, like she always seemed to do. “You still really like me?”    


The panic he felt before intensified. _ She’s worried about that? Why?  _ _   
_

“Of course.” He reassured her, reaching out and pulling her to him. “Why? What’s going on in that head of yours?”    


“Nothing. I just… this WICKED mind control is freaking me out.” She admitted, cuddling against him the second he pulled her to him.  

“Me too. It’s scary, I don’t know what’s real or not.” He kissed the top of her head, and played with her hair for a few moments before speaking again. “Listen. I’ve felt really, really powerful emotions and urges before, and they were all controlled by WICKED.This, what we have, is so different than that. It’s so much stronger than that.” 

“Thank you, Newt.” Audrey whispered. Newt stayed still for a long time, allowing her to fall asleep on him. It took about twenty minutes for her breathing to even out. Listening to her soft breaths calmed his guilt, made him feel like there was a purpose to all of this.  _ One day we’re gonna get married. We’re gonna have bloody kids, and a dog, and a shuckin’ white picket fence. _

Sighing, he curled closer to Audrey, closing his eyes. “I love you Audrey.” He whispered into the darkness before falling into a restless sleep.


	19. Minho

Minho hadn’t slept properly in weeks. Ever since the doors stayed open, nightmares plagued the group’s minds. He could hear the restlessness in people’s sleep, watched as they thrashed about, mumbling shucked words in their sleep. The worst were Newts. While everyone else dreamt of their last two weeks, Newt dreamt of his last two years. Everyone else was haunted by their friend’s deaths, but Newt was haunted by his own life.

When Minho had fallen asleep in the shade that morning, there were a few things he had counted on. 1) They would waste more time than they had. 2) The sun would move in the sky, and their skin would be exposed to the burning sun, and 3) Someone would wake him up with a nightmare. What Minho didn’t count on, however, was being woken up by his own terrifying nightmare.

_ He spun in a circle. All his friends- Newt, Audrey, Thomas, Casey, and Thao- were standing in a circle around him. There was a dark shadow cast over their faces, blocking him from making out any features.  _

_ “Wha- what’s going on?” He stuttered, hands shaking. Thomas took a lumbering step forwards. When Minho saw his face, he tried to scream, but no sound came out. Thomas was a Crank. Way past the Gone.  _

_ Minho stumbled backwards, bumping into Audrey. Her face loomed out of the shadows, revealing she was suffering the same fate as Thomas. They all began to close in around him. He tried to scream again, but it still didn’t work. _

_ He shot straight up, looking around at the sleeping Gladers. He breathed hard. _ It was just a dream, shuck-face. _ He told himself. He turned to look at Thao, making sure she was still asleep.  _

_ She was right there. Right in front of his face. A full-blown Crank. _

He felt himself screaming before he heard it. He sat upright, breathing hard, eyes closed tightly. He threw his hands over his ears, rocking slightly like a little kid. He knew everyone was awake and staring at him, but he couldn’t bring himself to look at them. He felt a soft hand over top of his.   


“Min?” Thao asked gently, her other hand moving to rub his back. “You’re okay. Whatever it was is a dream.” Her voice was no louder than a whisper.    


Finally, he let his eyes open. Thao was directly in front of him, a worried expression on her face.  _ Her normal, beautiful face. It was a dream.  _   


“Sorry.” He muttered, looking past her to see everyone else who was looking at him. Newt and Audrey were sitting up to his left, Audrey giving him a small smile of understanding as he scanned over the two.  _ Normal, no signs of being cranks yet.  _   


“You alright shank?” Newt asked, and Minho nodded in response. _ It was a stupid dream. WICKED probably made him dream it. This was all WICKED’s fault.  _   


“Yeah. Just not going back to sleep anytime soon.”    


“Agreed.” Audrey mumbled, snuggling against Newt. Minho brought his attention back to Thao, who was still comforting him. He smiled at her, and she slowly retreated her hands.    
_ No, don’t. _ He thought, but didn’t say anything.    


“So if we aren’t sleeping, what’s next?”    


“It’s too bloody hot to move during the day.”    


“Newt’s right. We’ll wait till the sun starts going down to move. For now, we’ll hide out in the shade.”    


“Good that.” Everyone agreed, and some of the Gladers curled back up to go to sleep. Newt and Audrey scooted closer, and repositioned themselves right beside Minho and Thao now. Audrey was laying in Newt’s lap, head rested on his shoulder as she faced Minho.  _ They’re too shucking cute.  _ _   
_

“So, whatever shall we talk about today?” Audrey sing-songed, completely polar to her mood only a few hours ago.  _ Definitely her period. _

“The fact we’re all going to turn into shuckin’ Cranks if we waste anymore time.” Minho mumbled, still shaken from the dream.

“Aren’t you a bundle of joy?” Thao said, smacking him on the arm. The Gladers were getting restless. Minho was aching to run. They all just wanted to get to the safe haven, but the sun was high in the sky, beating down on the earth. 

They sat there for hours, eating only once. Occasionally someone would try to start up a conversation, but the others would let it end quickly. “This feels dead.” Audrey said, as the sun had finally started to get to a tolerable point.

“Care to elaborate?” Minho asked, packing up a few things, planning to leave in about an hour. 

“This feels like what being dead should feel like. Doing nothing, feeling nothing.” She explained, playing with a small stone. “It’s depressing.”

“It feels like depression.” Newt muttered, chucking a rock at the opposing rock wall. It shattered and fell to the ground. “Hopelessly trying to push through to get to a goal you don’t even know exists for sure?”  _ That’s exactly it, Shank.  _ “Might as well jump off the wall now, don’t suffer too long.” He threw another rock, harder this time.

“Debbie downer, oh how I missed you.” Minho scoffed, ruffling Newt’s hair.

\---------

At some point, the sun finally went down. The Gladers spent the next few hours running, stopping only a few times for a quick water break, if they still had any water. Minho knew by the time they’d finished running, everyone would be more in shape then when they started. No matter how much they complained about it as they were running.    


Eventually, two hours after their last break, Minho knew they had to stop again. As in shape as the Gladers were going to get, running the majority of the day was still hard on them. And with Newt’s shuck leg, long distance for longer than six hours was probably a bad idea.    


“Alright shanks!” Minho called as he came to a stop a bit up the mountain they were trying to get around. “Sun’ll be coming up in about three hours. I’m being nice and giving y'all an hour to catch your breaths, and then we’re trudging forward until our skin starts roasting!”    


“H-how nice of you, Min.” Audrey panted as she came to a stop, leaning forward with her hands on her knees.    


“You’re welcome, Shank.” He smiled, patting her on the back. But then it was back to doing nothing for an hour, which only seemed to put everyone on edge.    


“I understand why you like the concept of running now. I still don’t like it, but it’s a damned good distraction.” Audrey said a little while later as the group of four sat under a tree, backs all pressed up against the bark. 

“At the same time,” Thao added. “It’s a good way to sort out your thoughts.” She shrugged. “I feel like I could do a backflip, I’m so energized.”

“Go ahead shank.” Minho laughed.  _ As if she could do it. She’d smash her shuck head open. _ “How’s your hand?” He asked, realising he forgot about it for almost a day now.  _ You’re a klunk boyfriend.  _ **_I’m not her boyfriend._ ** _ You love her.  _ **_Get out of my head WICKED._ ** Minho sighed.

“Less infected, I guess.” She shrugged, slumping to the ground. Minho nodded, sitting next to her. “You’re such a softy.”

“Excuse me?” Minho was taken aback, he was by far the most hardass person in their group.

“An hour break? More like let Newt rest his leg break.” She laughed, laying on her stomach. “You also love to talk about feelings.”

“I do not!” Minho protested, crossing his arms with a pout.

“You also act like a child.” Thao pointed out, laughing again. Her nose crinkled when she giggled. Minho liked that. 

“Nuh-uh.” He argued, sticking out his tongue. Thao glanced down at his mouth for a brief second, as if wanting to kiss him.  _ Do it.  _ **_Piss off WICKED!_ ** Thao laughed again, meeting his eyes once more.

“An overgrown child with incredible leadership skills. That’s what you are.” Thao informed him decidedly.

“You two are gross.” Audrey complained.   


“Like you can talk!” Minho snorted, shaking his head. “Have you seen the way you and Newt act all the time?”    


“It’s not all the time.” Audrey blushed, turning away.    


“It’s all the time Auds.” Thao said, agreeing with Minho. “It’s been all the time from the second you met.”    


“Not the second. You two weren’t even there!” She defended.    


“Fine, from the first night we talked about your crush on him then. And it’s gotten worse since.” Thao laughed.    


“That’s not the only thing we discussed that night, Thay.” Audrey shot back, effectively shutting Thao up. _Wonder what that was about._   


“So, what’s the plan when the sun comes up all mighty leader?” Newt asked, quickly shifting the conversation. Weird, thought he’d want to hear more about Audrey’s crush on him.    


“Sleep. Waste time. Eat. Same as we’re doing now. Until we reach the safe haven, there isn’t too much else to do.”    


“Wouldn’t you rather nothing to do then running from Cranks?”    


“Good that.”    


“Do you think this is the last Phase?” Audrey asked, bringing up a question that so far had been avoided. “Rat Man said that they were dangerously short on the results they needed… and then said this was Phase Two.”    


“I bloody hope so.” Newt mumbled, pulling Audrey into a side hug. “But if there is, I can’t imagine anything worse than what they’ve already put us through. Besides, this is what the real world is like now.”    


“This is what WICKED told us the real world is like.”    


“I don’t think they could fake those Cranks, even with their advanced technology and mind control. Some of ‘em who aren’t past the Gone, maybe.”    


“Know what I hate most about knowing about the mind control? Not knowing if it’s me who hates WICKED, or if WICKED just wants me to hate them.” 

“What possible reason could you have for liking WICKED?” Minho asked, gesturing around them. “First of all, they locked us in a Maze for two years. Second, they threw us out here to  _ die _ . And third they’re shuckin’ called WICKED.”

“All good points.” Audrey agreed, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.  _ Ha, got her to smile.  _ “Either way, it’s still weird. I want to feel something  _ real _ .”

“I’ll show you something that feels real.” Newt muttered, his voice lower than normal.

“NO!” Minho and Thao shouted at the same time, shielding the other’s eyes. All four of the burst out laughing. It was short lived, however, as they all lapped into their solitary silence. Minho rose to his feet a short while later. “Potty break.” He murmured, walking away from the group to relieve himself.

When he came back, he called for everyone to collect their things. Once the Gladers were on their feet again, Minho began running.    


And they all ran round the mountain for another two hours, before the sun rose once again and made everyone hide in the shade of the trees again. Minho wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep this up, running to nothing, getting nowhere. At least he had the Glade to look forward to when he got sick of the Maze, but out here all you could do was keep running.    
“Wonder what Casey and Group B are up to... “ Audrey sighed as she once again curled up in Newt’s lap as he leaned back against a tree trunk.    


“Probably the same klunk as us.” Thao groaned, repositioning her back against the tree.”Eat, sleep and stay out of the sun.”    


“Our sleep schedule, if we ever even had one, is going to be so messed up once we’re out of here.” Audrey mumbled a few minutes later, when no one responded to Thao. “Sleeping during the day and running all night.”    


“Just think, in two days it’ll all be over.”     


“Hopefully.”    


“Well, this part will be. Can’t believe it’s only been twelve days since we left the dorms. Feels like forever has passed by.”    


“And you were only in the Glade two months.” Minho shook his head. “I can’t believe they had us in there for two shucking years before deciding it wasn’t awful enough for the results they needed.” He sighed, running his hand through his hair.

“Want to sprint a bit, Min?” Thao asked. “There’s another shaded spot up ahead.” He thought about it for a second. On one hand he really wanted to burn some pent up energy, but on the other hand, she was faster. 

“Can ya hold the fort Newtie boy?” He asked, turning to look at his friend. Newt nodded, smiling slightly. “Right, ready shank?”

“Alright, Shank. Let’s go.” The pair took off sprinting.The heat from the sun made his skin prickle. He laughed, breathless. 

“It hurts!” He called, running only a few steps behind her. 

“I know!” She called back, pushing herself harder. They reared a corner, falling onto the shaded ground. She held her stomach, laughing slightly. “That wasn’t to bad, this spot is bigger, we should get the others to come here.”

“You’re right, looks like it will stay shaded for a longer time.” Minho added, looking around at their makeshift shelter. He breathed hard, the hot air was hard to run in. “In a minute, though.” She sighed, rolling onto her back and staring up at the sky.

“Min?”

“Thay?”

“Do you think WICKED is trying to get us together, or keep us apart?” She asked, shifting so her head was on his stomach. “Like, I keep having these arguments in my head, but I can’t tell which one is me, and which one is WICKED.”

“I know, I can’t understand if I’m telling WICKED to shut up, or WICKED is telling me to tell WICKED to shut up.” Minho admitted, his hand hovering above her head.  _ Do it, play with her hair.  _ **_No don’t._ ** _ Why not?  _ **_Just don’t._ ** “But, we’ve seen how hard it is to break WICKED’s mind control. Gally, Casey,  _ Chuck _ , Newt.”

“That’s true. I guess, after a year, if they wanted us together, it would already have happened.”

“What about you and Gally?” Minho wondered, remembering the fact that only a few months ago, that was the biggest issue in his life. “I’m sure it was a variable to have you want both of us.”

“Maybe they wanted me to end up with Gally.” She shrugged, shifting again so she was laying with her head beside him. “Maybe he’s still alive and that’s what they want. That was always the biggest struggle for me. You and Gally. Because I hated Gally, but I had this urge to be around him all the time.”

“And me?” Minho asked, trying to ignore the massive fight that was going on in his mind.

“You’re a slinthead,” Thao laughed, throwing her hands up by her head. “A damn hot slinthead, though.” 

That was the breaking point for Minho. He rolled over so he was right on top of her, pressing his lips to hers, hard. His mind screamed at him to stop, his hands clasped at the air, trying to stop him from kissing her. Thao’s hands were against his chest, grasping his shirt, but there was a force behind her fists, as if she was trying to resist pushing him away.

“That’s really difficult to do.” Thao admitted, pulling away from him. “I can barely concentrate.”

“They can’t be trying to hard to stop us. But I think they know exactly what we’re thinking, and are trying to play us.” Minho guessed, shaking his head. “But whatever. I like kissing you, shank.”   


“I like the secrecy of it all.”

\-------------------- 

Somewhere in between sleeping and running in the last few days, Aris had disappeared. Minho hadn’t even noticed they were short one until Brenda started asking questions about who had seen him last.    


They’re best guess was he’d gone after the other group, since they were the ones he was in his own Glade with. Another was that WICKED had taken him, and if it were true they’d get him back once they got to the safe haven.    


The days to get there were getting longer, or at least it felt like it. They still had over thirteen hours left, but it felt like a lifetime away. Minho really hoped Casey had come to her senses and brought Thomas to the safe haven with her, because he really didn’t want to risk spending more time out here and having his nightmare become reality.    


“How much further do you reckon it is?” Newt asked as they stopped for a bathroom break. Most of the Gladers just used this time to catch their breaths though, having a hard time keeping up. Minho was pushing a little harder, because the truth was he didn’t know how far they’d come. And when he looked out past the mountain, there was nothing but scorched ground.     


“Dunno, can’t be too far though.” Minho shrugged, scanning over the site in front of him. “Maybe it's one of their damn mind games, and we won't be able to see the safe haven until we reach it.”   


“Or there is no safe haven and they’ve left us all out here to die.” Frypan called as he made his way over.    


“Always the optimist Fry.”    


“What? I’m just saying. Look around, there ain’t nothing out there but sand.”    


“We aren’t supposed to believe anything we see or don’t see, remember?” Audrey pointed out, being the actual optimistic one. “Maybe Minho’s right and we won’t see it til we get there.” 

“I bloody hope so. We all need more water than we’re getting.” Newt huffed, and the group got ready to run again.    


“We have enough to last us the next twelve or so hours, it’ll be fine. Just don’t go chugging the rest of it down the next time we break.” Thao pointed out, looking directly at Frypan, whose bottle was very nearly empty. Frypan rolled his eyes, but stored the bottle away nonetheless.

“What do we do if there’s nothing?” Minho whispered quietly, so only Thao could hear. 

“Go find that mansion, I guess. Move on.” She shrugged, stretching to touch her toes. “Ready to go?” Minho nodded.

“Let’s get a move on guys, hop to.” The Gladers all lined up again, getting ready to run. “We’re gonna run hard. We need to get there, and we’re cutting it pretty damn close.” The Gladers, Brenda, and Jorge nodded. 

They set off again, running at a quick pace. Minho hoped that they were all in enough shape from the past few weeks to run like this, if not they wouldn’t make it. He pushed his feet into the sand, calves aching. 

“Min!” Newt shouted, somewhere behind him. He slowed down a bit, turning and running backwards. At the bottom of the mountains, he could see a bunch of figures running in the same direction. Group B.

“Keep moving guys, we’ll meet up with ‘em when we get our shuck butts to the safe haven.” 


	20. Thao

A shucking stick. A sticking with a shuckin’ orange ribbon. Thao stared at in disbelief as Group B joined their semi circle around the stick. On the ribbon were the words:

**THE SAFE HAVEN**

“This has got to be some sort of joke, right?” A boy asked, shaking his head. Thao turned to look at him. He had pale skin, sandy blonde hair, and had a couple of deep scars across his face. 

“Looks like it. Thao.” She held out her hand to him. He took it with a shy smile.

“Alfred.” 

“Alright, which one of you sticks is the leader?” Thao spun around to see one of the girls from before. Her dreadlocks were coated in dirt, and she looked extremely tired. Beside her stood the blond girl, her blonde hair tied up much like Audrey’s. 

“That would be me shuck-face.” Minho spat, stepping forward. “Where’s Thomas?” 

“He’s coming,” She started, pointing over her shoulder to three figures in the distance. Thomas, Casey, and  _ that’s where he went _ , Aris. “I’m Harriet. This here is Sonya, my second-in-command.”

“I’m Minho. That there’s Newt.” He gestured over his shoulder towards Newt, who gave a short nod. “What’d you do to Tomboy?”

“Listen. All I know, is Casey was under WICKED’s control. They made her kidnap that boy, she wasn’t too impressed. Aris showed up a few days later, and the pair of sticks dragged Thomas into the forest.” She explained, grimacing. “When we woke up this mornin’ they said the kid was dead. Twenty minutes later, we set out without ‘em. Turned around just as we got to the bottom of them mountains, and their dragging the damn kid with ‘em.”

Thao stared at the girl, she reminded her strongly of Alby. “Right. Okay, well at least all three of those shanks are alive. Was getting worried about those slintheads.” Harriet looked a tad confused at the Glader slang, but didn’t mention it. 

“So what do we do about this?” Sonya asked, gesturing to the orange ribbon.

“I reckon somthin’ will come when it’s time. Let’s wait it out a bit.” Newt suggested. Thao smiled, wondering if it was a coincidence that so many of the people between the groups acted like each other. 

“You shanks think everyone has a parallel between the two mazes?” Thao asked, completely off topic, but she was interested.    


“That’s a good question. I wonder if their numbers would match up with ours.” Audrey agreed, her hand moving to brush the back of her neck, where her tattoo was.    


“You have number tattoo’s too?” Sonya asked, looking over at Harriet.    


“Yeah, and ‘Property of WICKED’ permanently scrawled on us.”    


“Let’s test your theory.” Harriet smiled, before turning to most of Group B. “Line up, by your tat’s number.” She called, and the others instantly followed suite.    


“Uhm.” Minho started, before clearing his throat. “Find out if any of these shanks numbers are the same ya.”    


Soon, a few of the Gladers were standing in front of a Group B member, their numbers matching. Thao was in front of a boy named Alexander, who Audrey pointed out shared similar features with her.    


Newt was paired with Sonya, and Minho with some girl named Annie. Audrey and Harriet stood with a girl named Beth, no one having the same numbers as them. Most likely because the other had died in the Maze or out here.    


“I think Thao was right. I mean, look how similar some of them look. Or just their presence as a whole feels the same.” Audrey said, looking over all the matches. “You remind me of our first leader, Alby. But he died escaping the Maze.”    


Harriet nodded, looking Audrey and the others over. “You remind me of Theo. He uh.. stayed behind back in the gym. He’d gotten his memories back, didn’t want to face the reality of it.”    


“And I don't think it’s a coincidence that Alexander and I look like we could be related. Maybe we’re cousins or something.” She smiled, and the boy laughed.    
Before anyone had the chance to say anything else, Thomas, Casey and Aris came back.    


“It’s about time you slowpokes caught up with us!” Minho yelled, a smirky grin across his face. Thomas took a second to catch his breath before straightening up.    


“I thought you’d be fighting tooth and nail with these guys after what they did to us. To me, anyways.”  _ It’s always about you, ain’t it Tomboy? _ Thao shook her head, smiling a little.    


“Well, first of all, they have nastier weapons, not to mention bows and arrows. Plus, Harriet explained everything. We’re the ones who should be surprised that you're still breathing.”    


“It was WICKED man, it was all them. Casey and Aris didn’t mean to. They’re on our side. Trust me.” Thomas told them, throwing his arm around Casey’s shoulders.   


“I missed you, Shanks.” Thao laughed, walking forward and pulling them both into a hug. 

“Missed you too, shuck-face.” Thomas said, ruffling Thao’s hair slightly. “We have an hour left. What are we doing about-this.” Thomas gestured wildly to stick and ribbon, looking distraught.

“Guess we’ll just wait it out dude.” Minho shrugged taking a seat in the sand by Annie. Thomas looked a bit frustrated, but must have realised there wasn’t much more they could do. He walked over to Newt, pulling him into a tight hug. 

“Thao, right?” Thao spun around to find Alexander. 

“Yeah, Alexander? Or do you prefer Alex?” She asked, taking a good look at the boy. If Thao had been born a shuck boy, she would have looked exactly like this guy.

“Alexander’s cool. Only Annie calls me Alex.” He shrugged, digging his hands into his pockets. Thao nodded. She wasn’t sure if she should be attracted to this boy or not. He was hot, but so was she, and they looked the same. Thao was confused.

“So, you two together, then?” Thao asked, glancing over to where Minho and Annie sat. 

“Ehh, kinda? No, not really. It’s complicated.” He explained with a shrug.

“I get it.” She watched Minho as he adjusted his wristwatch. It reminded her of the way he used to adjust the bindings around his hands back in the Glade. “So what, we like twins or something?”

“I don’t know, we look awfully similar.” He shrugged. 

“Were you a runner?” Thao asked, wondering if they even had the same names for those things in Group B’s Maze.

“A what?”

“A runner, y’know, back in the Maze, run around aimlessly for hours everyday?”

“Oh, you mean a Ratty?” He asked, nodding his head.

“A ratty?” Thao laughed. “Why’s it called a Ratty?”

“Cause you run around in the Maze like a lab rat!” He defended, looking embarrassed. The pair talked for a while, discovering each other’s slang words, and names for things.

Later on, Audrey came back over to her letting out a sigh. “These people have a totally different dork language. I just go use to ours!”    


“I know. They called their Runners ‘Rattys’ and Shanks are Sticks. It’s weird.”    


“And I think Plop is our Klunk. Can’t be too sure though, didn’t want to ask.” Audrey smiled, before spotting Alexander over with Annie and Minho. “So, Alexander and Annie are like you and Minho hey? Beth nearly ripped off my head when I asked what their story was. I think she likes him.”    


“Yeah, apparently it’s complicated.” Thao shrugged. “What do you think about Sonya and Newt?”    


“I think if I didn’t like him, I’d want them to be together.” Audrey laughed, looking over at the two. “They seem to be getting on well too.”    


“I don’t think Newt would go for that. Even if you didn’t love him, he sure as hell loves you.”    


“Can I tell you something? Something you have to promise not to tell anyone else.”    


“A secret, yes you can tell me.”    


“He told me that the other night. Well, actually he told a sleeping me. But I wasn’t asleep yet.”    


“Told you what? That he loved you?”    


“Yeah. But he thought I was sleeping…” Audrey sighed, watching as Newt laughed at something Sonya said before she waved and walked off. “What should I do about….” She started before realizing Newt and Minho where both walking towards them, Casey and Thomas following behind them. “About uh… this stupid flag?” She tried weakly, looking over to Thao with a ‘help me’ expression.    


“What about this stupid flag?” Minho asked, taking a seat in the sand beside Thao. Newt followed suit and sat by Audrey, and Casey and Thomas came to sit in front of the other four.    


“It’s stupid.” Thao supplied with a shrug. “Audrey was thinking it might look better as a scarf.”

“Or a noose.” Newt muttered grumpily. 

“Woah there, no need to get too fashionable on us Mr. Grumpy-Pants.” Thomas laughed, shoving Newt’s shoulder lightly. Newt’s face turned a very light shade of pink.

“Okay,” Thao muttered to Audrey, staring at Newt and Thomas. “If you weren’t together, who would look better hanging off his arm, Thomas or Sonya?”

“Please,” Audrey murmured back, a smirk playing at her lips. “Newt would be hanging of  _ his _ arm, he idolizes his ‘Tommy’.” Both girls laughed. Casey walked over to them.

“Discussing the fact Newt is head over heels for Tom?” She asked, the boys having struck up their own conversation.

“Yes, isn’t it embarrassing to watch?” Thao asked, making fake gagging sounds. 

“So how is ‘Tom’?” Audrey asked with a wink.

“Yeah, he seemed pretty flushed after you two went at it in that shack.” Thao added. Casey blushed, hiding her face in her hands.

“He’s fine.” She stammere, face getting redder by the second.

“He sure is  _ fiiiine _ .” Thao gushed, elbowing Casey in the ribs.

“You two make out on the way here? Poor Aris.” Audrey asked, smirking.

“He looked away.” Casey laughed, messing her hair up.

“Is he a good kisser?”

“So good.” Casey smiled, shaking her head. “What about the other two?”    


“Well, I dunno about Minho. And I don’t have anyone to compare to Newt, but I think he’s pretty good” Audrey laughed, her answer sounding a lot more like a question.    


“Alright, and Minho?” Casey asked, looking at Thao now.    


“I can’t say that they aren’t enjoyable.” She shrugged, a smirk on her face.    


“What’s enjoyable?” Thomas asked, the boys apparently taking an interest in the girls conversation.    


“Watching you three make idiots of each other.”    


“Oi, we do not.” Newt defended, wrapping an arm around Audrey. “At least, I never look like an idiot.”    


“I hate to tell you, but you’re usually the biggest idiot. You’re cheeks turn all pink.” Audrey smiled, reaching over to pinch his cheeks as they turned red. “You never blush like this otherwise.”    


“Get a room!” Minho rolled his eyes, shaking his head. “You slintheads are disgusting.”    


“You love us Minho.” Audrey smiled, before gesturing around them. “And it’s literally impossible for us to go anywhere else.”    


The sky above them had started to cloud though, and it looked like another storm was rolling in.    


“How much longer until times up?”    


“Thirty five minutes.”    


“Let’s hope that buggin’ storm hold off a little while longer.” Newt said, looking up at the clouds with a grimace. Audrey sighed and moved closer to him to protect herself from the wind that was starting up. 

“Wait.” Minho said, pointing over Thao’s shoulder. “What’s that!”

Thao whipped around to look, terror written all over Minho’s face.  _ Please don’t kill me.  _   


About thirty feet from the group, a large section of the desert ground was opening. A perfect square, maybe fifteen feet wide, pivoted on a diagonal axis as the dirt-packed side slowly spun away from them and what had lain underneath rose up to replace it. The sound of groaning, twisting steel pierced the air, louder than the now roaring wind.  _ What, does WICKED control the weather now too? _ Thao thought, before focusing back on the hole. Soon the rotating square had fully flipped, and where once had been desert ground now lay a section of black material, with odd objects sitting on top of it.    


It was oblong and white with rounded edges. _ Griever containers. That’s where the Grievers took naps back in the cliff, in those white coffin chambers.  _   


Before anyone had time to react, more sections of the floor surrounding Groups A and B started to rotate open like dark, gaping jaws. Dozens of them. The sound was so loud, it hurt Thao’s ears. The sound was reverberating through her skull. She watched Thomas’s hands fly to his own ears, trying to block the sound out. 

Once the sound ceased, there were thirty white coffin-like boxes sitting on top of large black squares. No one move, they just stared, aimlessly.  _ One last variable. _ The wind picked up, sending dust flying at their eyes. 

“Do we like- do we get inside?” A boy yelled over the wind, his voice barely audible.

“No you shuck-faced slinthead, we are not going inside.” She yelled back, raising her arm to try to block some of the dirt and sand. 

“You think Grievers are going to come outta them?” Minho asked, turning his back to the wind.

“We better get ready to buggin’ fight if they bloody do.” Newt shouted back. Thunder and lightning shook the group, and Thao felt a growing fear in her stomach, and a sharp pain in her hand. 

“I don’t know about you guys, but I ain’t up for anymore dances with the lighting!” Minho yelled, trying to look at the sky. A deafening hiss shot through the air, causing them to cover their ears again. Thao looked around, noticing that each container had a dark blue line of light beside it. 

“What the shuck?” She yelled, not sure if anybody could hear.    


The light expanded as the top half of the object began to move upward, opening on hinges like the lid of the coffin. It made no sound, at least not enough to be heard over the wind and thunder. Everyone packed in tighter, squishing right against one another.    


The lids continued moving until they’d all swung open and dropped to the ground. Something bulky rested inside, but it didn’t seem anything like the Grievers had.    
Thomas and Casey started towards on, and Thao pulled on Minho’s arm.    


“Thomas!” He yelled, shaking his head.    


“What?”    


“You, me and Thao! Let’s go check it out!”    


Thomas stopped, nodding in agreement before something slipped out of the pods. A collective gasp escaped everyone who could see and Thomas turned back to see. Things were moving in the pods, and whatever they were, they wanted out.    


A misshapen arm hung out over the edge, and it’s hand dangled a few inches above the ground. On it were four disfigured fingers, none of them were the same length. They wiggled and grasped for something that wasn’t there, as if the creature inside was searching to get a grip to pull itself out. Right where the elbow would be, was a large glowing sphere. Like a lightbulb. It continued to claw it’s way out of the box, the light bulbs growing out of it’s skin.

“What is that?” Minho yelled, terrified. Thomas looked mesmerized, staring at the thing as if he had never seen anything to fascinating. The thing finally managed to climb out of the box, standing upright.

It was roughly human shaped, though it was much taller. There was no real distinction, like eyes, or a mouth. The creature stood naked in front of them, two dozen light bulbs in it’s flesh. Thao glanced around, the creatures were now out of every box, standing and staring at the Groups. 

“Guys...” Thao breathed, reaching forwards and pulling them both back a few steps. The creatures shot their arms up, into the air. 

“What the shuck?’ Thomas whispered, shoulder bumping into Thao’s. A long, thin blade suddenly shot out of the tips of each of their fingers. The creatures all let out a creepy moan, despite the fact none of them had mouths.

“Maybe grievers would have been better.” Minho muttered, bringing the other two back another step. “There’s one for each of us! Grab a weapon and get ready to fight!” He called back to the group. 

The creatures began to move forward, like soldiers, their movements precise and in time. They were agile creatures, and muscular. Thomas ran back to Casey, trying to find a weapon. Minho and Thao each pulled their knives from their belts, brandishing them at the two nearest creatures.

“See you on the other side, shank.” Minho yelled at her, holding his knife above his head, ready to swing.

“Good that, slinthead.” They charged forward, blades colliding with flesh with a sickening sound.


	21. Audrey

Once the Gladers and members of Group B had figured out that the creature's power source was somehow linked to the bulbs that were all over it’s body, defending themselves and attacking got a little bit easier.    


Somehow, during the fight she had managed to stay fairly close to Newt. Every time a thing got too close, they would both attack it and fight it off. It was a lot of work, and took more energy than any of them had.    


“Duck!” Newt yelled from her right, and she quickly squatted down. She quickly looked around to see how the others were doing, and instantly wished she hadn’t. What kind of twisted safe haven is this? She thought, as she saw a two lifeless bodies lying on the ground, covered in wounds. One Glader and one Group B person. That was it, she’d had enough.  

When it was safe to do so, she stood back up and started aiming her rusty old sword at every blub she could, letting all her anger out on the yellowish, wrinkled beast.    


Then the lighting started, sending Thomas flying and effectively killing the monster behind him. The white light exploded through the sky with deafening cracks of thunder, throwing dirt in every direction. Burning a few monsters to a crisp, sending people flying backwards and tearing people apart right before her eyes.    


She spared a glance at her watch. They had ten minutes left, just ten.     


Suddenly, Newt was dragging her with him, towards the very pods that the monsters had come out of. Minho and Thao had already started towards the same one, dodging a few zigzagging bolts as they hit the ground.    


“Hurry!” Newt called, and Audrey sped up, practically jumping into the pod once they reached it. Newt followed in after her, then Thao and Minho. “We’ve got to close this.”    


And so they did, pulling on the half that was leaving it open. It closed, leaving the noise of outside to become a hollow thrum.    


“What kind of safe haven tries to kill everyone off first?” Audrey mumbled, shifting a little to give everyone else room. She was glad they were okay, and in this pod with her.    


“One set up by WICKED.” 

“Do you think everyone else did this?”    


“Probably. Tommy and Casey definitely did.” Newt sighed, pulling Audrey to his side. “Glad we’re all okay.”    


“How much time do we have, until the supposed rescue?”    


“Five minutes.” Minho said, shaking his head. “Dunno why I’m surprised. How we thought WICKED would just let us wait out the time to get the cure, after all the shuck they’ve done to us…”    


“Yeah, didn’t exactly plan on being holed up in a Griever pod to avoid being killed by a monsterous light bulb guy and a thunderstorm.” Newt grunted, and Audrey moved closer to him.    
A boom and crack shook the pod, making a split in the ceiling enough that water began pouring in, splashing all over everyone. Something hissed and steam seeped in as well, the lighting having heated up the outside material.    


“This was not the kind of shucking shower I was looking forward to!” Audrey heard Minho laugh bitterly. “We’re not gonna last much longer in here!” 

“Only a minute left!”    


A sound started up outside. Faint at first, barely discernible over the noises of the storm. A humming. Deep, and low. It grew in volume, seemed to vibrate everything.    
“What is that?”    


“Dunno, can’t be good. Thirty seconds!” Newt announced.    


“I say we get out of this thing before it blows. That humming sounds like maybe it could be a Berg or whatever Jorge had called it.” Minho said. “Or even if it’s not, we need to know what's going on.”    


So they opened the door, taking the chance to look out at what was going on. A berg was slowly lowering to the ground. The four of them jumped out, lighting flashing, monsters still attacking. a door on the bottom of the Berg began to slowly open. 

“Go!” Audrey screamed, running across the wet sand. Out the corner of her eye, she spotted Casey and Thomas, running just as hard. Audrey’s heart was pounding.  _ This is it, keep going _ . 

A dozen of the creatures came from around the side of the berg. Some of their blades were dripping with blood. “Run! Charge ‘em!” Minho screamed, brandishing his knife. 

They were closing in on the creatures, weapons held high, Newt, Minho and Thomas leading the chase. They were only a few feet away. Thomas ran a little harder, and then pushed off the ground with both his feet, snapping his legs together. He soared through the air, his feet colliding with one of the creature’s chest, bursting one of the light bulbs. 

Minho body checked the closest creature, sending it flying. When it hit the ground, several of the bulbs shattered, and Minho jumped the creature. She didn’t have time to look to see how Newt was faring, for she had just reached the creatures, sending her sword flying into the bulbs on the nearest creatures. 

It stumbled backwards, and she pushed it to the ground, jumping on top of it. She began punching at the bulbs with her free hand, swatting at the creature’s bladed fingers with her sword. She had one bulb left, but as she went to swing for it, one of the creature’s blades swung at her head. She dove out of the way, spinning around to attack again, but the creature was dead; it’s final bulb extinguished.

“Let’s go!” Newt shouted, pulling her to her feet. He let go of her hand, and pushed her forward, urging her on. She looked back to find him half running- half limping towards the Berg. Minho and Thomas were by his side, carefully watching him as they ran.

“It’s leaving!” Thomas screamed, pointing frantically to the Berg. “Hurry!” 

The berg had reached a point three feet off the ground, slowly rising and turning at the same time, ready at any second to shift those thrusters and zip away. Frypan and a few of the people from Group B made it first, diving onto the platform of the still open cargo door. Still it kept going. A few other gladers jumped in, helping up a few from Group B. 

Run dammit.    


Then she was there, jumping on and instantly moving out of the way for Newt, Minho, Thao and Thomas. Casey appeared next, and Audrey let out a small sigh. The Berg kept rising, and Audrey moved to help whoever she could on. Minho was helping Aris, Harriet and Newt pulled on Alexander.

But then,  Brenda was holding on only with her hands., her body dangling as she kicked her feet and tried to get up. Thomas and Casey dropped to their stomachs and pulled her up, and after a little bit of work, they succeeded.    


They’d made it. It was done.    


“Who are these two people?” A man with short red hair asked, holding a black pistol at Brenda and Jorge who sat next to each other, shivering and wet and bruised. “Somebody answer me!”    


“They helped us get through the city--we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for them.” Thomas answered, causing the man to snap his head towards him.    


“You… picked them up along the way?”    


Thomas nodded, and Audrey scooted closer to Newt. This couldn’t end well. 

“We made a deal with them. Promised they’d get the cure too. We still have fewer people than when we started with.”    


“Doesn’t matter.” The man said. “We didn’t say you could bring citizens!”    


The berg kept climbing higher in the sky, but the door hadn’t closed yet. Wind whipped through the wide hole; anyone could go tumbling to their death if they hit turbulence.    


Thomas got to his feet.  _ What are you doing?  _ “Well, you told us to come here, and we did what we had to do!”    


The red haired man paused, seeming to consider what Thomas has said.    


“Sometimes I forget how little you people understand what’s going on. Fine, you can keep one of ‘em. The other goes.”    


“What do you mean… the other goes?” Thomas asked, looking panicked. The man clicked the gun, holding it right up to Brenda’s head. 

“We don’t have time for this, you have five seconds to choose or they both die. One.” Fear finally hit Audrey’s stomach at a thousand miles an hour. 

“Wait!” Thomas screamed.

“Two.” The man shoved the gun harder against Brenda’s head. 

“Three.”

“Four.” The man screamed. “Choose now or they both die!”

“Kill  _ her _ .” Thomas said, and Audrey’s heart sank. She was going to be sick. The man put the gun back in his pants, and Audrey could almost breathe. Until he grabbed Brenda, yanking her to her feet and toward the open door. 

Audrey screamed.  _ Screw being badass. _ Newt pulled her back, afraid she may run to help. To be honest, Audrey couldn’t move if she wanted to. Thomas ran forward, tackling the man to the ground. Brenda stumbled forward, but Casey reached forward and pulled her back, dragging her away from the door. 

Thomas suddenly had the man’s gun in his hand, pointing it at the guy’s head. “No one else dies! The tests are over!” He shouted. Then the man smiled. The doors began to close.

“My name’s David.” the man said, his voice loud in the new silence, broken only by the low hum of the ship’s engines and thrusters. “And don’t worry, you’re right. It’s over. It’s all over.”    


Thomas nodded mockingly. “Yeah, we’ve heard that before. This time we mean it. We’re not going to sit back and let you treat us like rats anymore. We’re done.”    


David took a moment to scan the large cargo hold, watching as countless others nodded in agreement. Audrey right along with them. “What you don’t understand is that everything has gone and will continue to go as planned. But you’re right, the Trials are complete. We’re taking you to a place of safety---a real place of safety. No more tests, no more lies, no more setups. No more pretending.” He paused, and Audrey was still having a hard time believing him. “I can only promise one thing. When you hear why we’ve put you through this, and why it’s so important that so many of you survived, you’ll understand. I promise you’ll understand.”    


Minho snorted, and Audrey wanted to laugh with him. “That’s the biggest piece of klunk i’ve ever heard in my life.”    


“And what about the cure? We were promised. For us and the two who helped us here. How can we believe anything you tell us?” Thomas asked.    


“Think what you want for now.” David said. “Things will change from here out, and you’ll get the cure, just like you were told. As soon as we get back to headquarters. You can keep that gun, by the way---we’ll even give you more if you’d like. There’ll be nothing else for you to fight against, no tests or trials to ignore or refuse. Our Berg will land, you’ll see that you’re safe and cured, and then you can do what you want. The only thing we’ll ever ask you to do again is to listen. Only to listen. I’m sure you’re at least intrigued by what’s behind all this?”    


“No more games.” Thomas said, keeping his voice calm.    


“First sign of trouble” Minho added, “We start fighting. If that means we die, then so be it.”    


David smiled fully this time, making Audrey hide further into Newt’s hug. “You know, that’s exactly what we predicted you’d do at this point.” He motioned with an arm towards a small door at the back of the cargo hold. “Shall we?”    


“What’s next on the bloody agenda?” Newt asked, helping Audrey to her feet.    


“Just thought you’d like to eat something. Maybe take a shower. Sleep.” David said, walking around a few Gladers and Group B members. “It’s a very long flight.” He opened a door on the wall, holding it open for them all to go through.

They were led to a hall with six tables, and more than enough seats. They sat down. The six of them sharing a table. Only then, did Audrey realise how truly  _ tired _ she was. They were brought ice cold drinks, and a pasta dinner. The taste of real, unexpired food was weird to her. It felt fresh, and light in her stomach.

They mostly ate in silence, a few comments about the food here or there. When they were done, David led them out of the hall, to a washroom. “There’s plenty showers in there, feel free to take as long as you’d like.” He opened the door, letting them all file in. 

Along the one of the walls were about twenty five shower stalls. On the opposing walls were sinks, toilet stalls, and some benches. The next thing she noticed was Newt’s bare back, his shirt being pulled over his head. 

She walked over to him, hugging him from behind. He turned around, pressing his lips to hers. “Woah, save it for the showers, you two!” Casey laughed, sending a wink in their direction, before disappearing into a shower beside Thomas’s. 

“What do you say? Continue in the showers?” Newt asked, taking off his belt. Audrey rolled her eyes, but didn’t say anything. _ Always such a tease.  _ She thought, smiling at him. “Is that a yes?” He asked, throwing his belt down with his shirt.    


“Newt.”    


“Audrey.” He grinned, gently tugging on her shirt's sleeve.     


“Go shower, you dork.” She shook her head, giving him another quick kiss before scurrying off to her own shower. She closed the first curtain set and reached past the other to turn the shower on, deciding she’d best wait until the water was warm.    


And apparently it’s a good thing she had, because two seconds later, Newt was in her stall. “What are you doing!” She whisper-yelled at him, before checking that he was still somewhat clothed.  _ Just boxers. The boy wants to kill me _ . “Get out!”    


“You never said no.” Newt laughed, and wrapped his arms around her before gently moving to tug her shirt up.    


“Newt!” She couldn’t help it, she started laughing too. “No, go shower. Alone. In your own stall.”    


He finally stopped goofing around, and let her go. Or at least she’d thought he’d stopped. But no. Because instead, the adorable, blonde haired british boy jumped past her into the warm shower she had started and closed the curtain, his boxers being slid under it a few seconds later.    


She laughed, before going to find another stall.  _ He really is trying to kill me.  _

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! We are currently working on a fourth installment for this series, which takes place AFTER The Death Cure. It's going to be written in the form of one-shots, so if you have any ideas of things you would like to see in those one-shots, please give suggestions! Also, don't be afraid to suggest one-shot ideas for characters who canonically die, as some of them may survive to Paradise. Thanks guys, hope you're liking the series! <3  
> -Alex and Katie


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